


Low Tide

by preusterreich



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Merpeople, also adding a little bit of soumako
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 11:04:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5088280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/preusterreich/pseuds/preusterreich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei is a university student passionate about marine biology and all ocean life. While working on his final project before summer break, he meets someone very unusual and finds himself caught in a bizarre riptide of confusing new emotions. How much can one summer change a person?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone, i hope you guys enjoy this story because i just can't get enough of mershark rin, but ngl this story will have smut eventually(because i legit can't write a story without smut). just a warning in case that squicks you out.

Stepping foot outside his apartment and closing the door behind him, Rei looked up to the sky. The roiling, dark clouds overhead were threatening to burst forth with a torrent of ruined day. The temperature was lower than usual, so Rei brought along his coat to the shore, where he planned to continue his observation of the plethora of small creatures who made their home at the waterline. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, adjusted his glasses, and started his short walk to the sea. It was Friday afternoon and he had spent every afternoon this week at the shore, making note of all the insects, crustaceans, and fish he saw. He also recorded their diets, colour schemes and markings, and behaviour. Hoping to get a few extra minutes of observation in before the seemingly inevitable downpour, Rei decided to jog along the shortcut through the park. Quickly passing between the trees, he glanced up to the sky once more; the clouds stood firm. 

Thanks to his track experience, the ocean seemed to be upon Rei in an instant. Striding down to the beach, he set his backpack down upon a dry rock underneath an overhanging tree. He wanted to keep it far from the water and safe from the high tide that he knew would come. His research was his most precious possession at the moment, seeing as though this project counted for fifty percent of his final grade in his biology class.

\------

After spending twenty minutes following a tiny hermit crab walking along the shoreline, Rei noticed that he was actually feeling quite warm. He readjusted his glasses and looked to the sky again; the angry clouds from before had dispersed, leaving the world above streaked with bright blue.  
Rei smiled to himself, ecstatic that he could now spend even more time gathering data for his project. He stripped off his sport jacket and tied around his hips. Left in his blue polo shirt, he resumed following the hermit crab, jotting down notes on the tiny crustacean whenever he deemed it necessary.

He managed to tear himself from the little hermit crab when he spotted an ornate seashell on a rock closer to the water. Curiosity piqued, he readjusted his glasses once again and inched closer to investigate. Eyeing the shell more closely, Rei's face lit up.

"Yes! This is Turbo cornutus!" Rei said to himself. "One of my favourite gastropods because of its magnificent shell."

"It doesn't look that magnificent to me."

Rei screamed, almost jumping out of his skin at the sudden voice. He managed to save his notebook at the last second and hugged it close to his chest, but the pen was long gone, lost between the rocks below. Swiveling his head around, he tried to locate the source of the voice.

"Down here."

Rei looked down the beach a few metres and saw a red-headed boy about his age leering at him from over a rock, chin resting on his crossed arms. He wore some jewelry on his wrists adorned with small stones and shells. Rei blushed and tried to regain some of his composure after his less-than-beautiful scream. He cleared his throat. "You shouldn't approach people like that. It's not very polite to scare someone, you know." 

"Oh, I know, but it's just so much fun." the stranger replied.

"Hm, I see." Rei grumbled. "Anyway, what are you doing out there? Isn't it a little cold to be swimming today?" 

"Hah? No way! Look at the sky; the weather is great!" The stranger threw his arm up gesturing to the clear sky above. He was right; the sky was nothing but pure blue, and the sun was beating down its warmth.

"I guess you're right... Well, I'm glad! That means I can observe the flora and fauna of the inter-tidal zone all afternoon!" He placed his hands triumphantly on his hips and began to laugh.

The stranger chuckled as well. "Heh, you're kinda weird." 

"Hey, passion for marine life is not weird! Sea creatures are very interesting and many are very beautiful!" Rei spluttered.

The stranger seemed intrigued by his words. "So, you _do_ have a thing for sea creatures. Well, if you think that snail is attractive, I'd love to hear what you think of me." the stranger smirked, gesturing down to his bare chest.

A wild blush flew all the way up to Rei's ears. "W-WHAT? Bu-but, you're a not a s-sea creature!" He swore there was steam billowing off his face. "W-well, it is true that h-human beings have evolved from fauna that once lived in the sea, b-but we don't reside underwater any more!"

The stranger chuckled, and Rei noticed his teeth glinting in the sunlight like ivory daggers. He threw himself backwards off the rock, splashing down into the water and circling around to the shallower depths, coming to rest in the calf-deep water along the shore. His human torso was on full display to Rei, but the stranger's chest only held his gaze for a moment. His line of vision quickly moved down the curve of the stranger's back to a sharp dorsal fin protruding above the waves and a distinctly shark-like tail waving at him as if in greeting.

Rei swore that his jaw fell all the way to the ground. "Y-you... you. W-w-well," he stuttered, unable to form a coherent thought, much less a full sentence. 

"Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, you're speechless." There were those teeth again, shining pearls in the sun. So beautiful; so deadly.

Desperately trying to gather his thoughts, Rei needed to form some kind of response for his new-found companion. "You...you're a mermaid!" 

The grin fell off the stranger's face in a split-second. "WHAT?!" he yelled, his face contorting in anger. "I am NOT a mermaid! I'm a mershark! I may have some friends that are mermaids, but don't lump me in with those shiny weirdos! I've got SCARS!" He flipped his tail out of the water and pointed to a large gouge along his tail fin. "See? Something like this would have killed one of them."

Noting the scar, Rei found his words. "You're half-man, half-shark?" Rei asked in disbelief, and a string of questions began to tumble from his mouth. "That's simply amazing! How did this happen to you? How did you get that scar? Have you ever made contact with any other human beings? How do you breathe underwater? What kind of shark are you? Or are there even sub-species of 'mersharks' or just-"

"Woah, calm down!" the man interrupted. "One question at a time!"

Stopping in the middle of a sentence, Rei put his fist over his mouth, jailing the words in his mind. He racked his brain trying to decide what his first question to the mershark would be. 

Then, an idea. 

"May I ask your name?" 

For a moment, the mershark looked as though he was about to cry, then his face broke out in a huge, pointy grin. "Ahh, it's been forever since someone asked me that!" He pulled himself a little further out of the water and Rei could see most of his tail above the softly-lapping waves. It occurred to Rei that maybe it wasn't such a good idea for the mershark to pull himself that far out of the water, considering that he could easily become beached, but he didn't seem to be too concerned about that; he didn't have trouble moving around with just his upper body strength and the occasional wiggle of his powerful tail.

"I'm Rin." he answered. 

Rei moved down the beach to be closer to the shoreline and closer to this mershark named Rin. He proceeded gently, still wary of the fact that Rin was half-shark, but his curiosity took hold and he cautiously sat down on the rocks next to Rin's human half. Learning everything he could about a possible new species was just too great of an opportunity for Rei to pass up.

"Well?" Rin prompted, moving his upper half closer to Rei, the belly of his shark-half resting on the fine gravel on this stretch of beach.

Rei flushed again(why did he need to be so close?) and stuttered, "W-well, what?"

"You should probably tell me your name too." Rin snickered.

"Oh yes! Uhh," He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I-I'm Rei. Ryuugazaki Rei." 

"Rei... Our names are very similar. Is Ryuugazaki your tribe name or something?"

"W-what? No, it's my family name. I got it from my father and my father got the same name from his father and so on." Rei explained.

"So it's like your tribe name? You're from the Ryuugazaki tribe." Rin stated.

Rei thought about that for a second before nodding. "Yes, I suppose you could say that." He turned to Rin, finding him even closer than before. "W-what's your tribe name? D-do you have one?"

"Matsuoka." Rin whispered into Rei's ear, growling low in his throat at the scent of the human's skin.

Blood pumping hard through his ears, Rei shifted sideways on the rocks, trying to put some distance in between himself and those teeth. "M-Matsuoka Rin? Th-that's a nice name!" he gulped. "So Matsuoka-san, how did you get this way? H-How did you become half-shark?" 

Rin shot him a puzzled look. "What do you mean? I was born like this; I was raised in these waters along the coast." Rin stretched his body out over the rocks and rolled over to lie on his side. He propped his head up with a fist, peering up at his human companion.

"So you have a family?" Rei asked.

"Of course. I could ask you the same, but considering that you're here talking with me today, you obviously have a family." 

Rei scoffed. "Well, I'm just trying to make conversation! I don't know anything about your species! You could be the last of your kind or even a thousand years old for all I know!" 

"Ha! Me? A thousand years old? Not even close!" Rin quickly hoisted himself up to Rei's level again, baring his teeth once more. "Try again, nerd!" 

Surprised by Rin's sudden advance on him, Rei fell back to rest on his elbows, his glasses getting knocked askew. Rin positioned his torso above Rei, his clawed hands on either side of Rei's chest, expertly securing him between his human-half and the rocks below. Rei gulped. "Y-You w-want me to guess how old you are, Matsuoka-san?"

Rin licked his lips. "Sure, why not? And please don't call me that. Just 'Rin' is fine." he drawled, laying a firm hand on Rei's hip.

"W-Well, we hardly know each other. Could I c-call you Rin-san?" he asked. 

"Yeah, I guess I can roll with that - for now." Rin scratched at Rei's hip, his claws just dipping underneath the hem of Rei's polo shirt. "Now, where were we again?" he growled. 

"Ah yes, y-your age. Well, y-you appear to be about my age, so perhaps you're nineteen?" he offered weakly. 

Rin recoiled a bit, chuckling. "Actually, you're really close! Because I'm so nice and I kinda enjoy your company, I'll give you one more shot." Rei froze as Rin sunk down to sniff at his throat, teeth dangerously close to his jugular vein. "If you get it right, maybe I won't eat you." he murmured suggestively into the boy's neck.

Rei couldn't move. This shark monster wanted to eat him, and he knew if he guessed Rin's age wrong, he could tear out his throat in a second with those teeth. Rei thought of that English saying that he had heard but never fully understood until this moment - curiosity killed the cat. He closed his eyes tightly and mentally apologized to all his professors for all of the projects that he may be unable to turn in.

"Rei, I'm waiting."

Rei's eyes snapped open to see Rin's jaw poised wide open over his throat and slowly moving closer for the kill. Panicking, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"T-Twenty?! A-Are you twenty?"

Rin laughed. "Well, I did pretty much tell you when I said you were close before. Yeah, I'm twenty years old." Rei sighed in relief, and Rin saw the sweat on his forehead. "Did you actually think I was going to eat you? You know, for a nerd, you're not the brightest." Rin drew his claws up Rei's chest. "I guess it's a good thing that you're pretty."

Suddenly, Rin snapped his head to the side, eyeing a couple walking toward them about a hundred metres down the beach. Blanching, he threw himself off of Rei. "Sorry to cut our time short, but I've gotta go!" He hauled himself back into the water with ease, stopping and turning around to face Rei only once his tail was fully submerged. "See ya tomorrow?" 

Rei sat up desperately on the rocks, calling to Rin. "Wait! I still have questions!" 

Rin began to swim off hurriedly. "Tomorrow!" he yelled, subsequently disappearing beneath the waves. For a moment, Rei watched the ripples recede away from the spot where Rin dove underneath the surface. Looking around, he spotted his notebook a couple of metres away. He stood and dusted a small amount of dirt off his pants, noticing that most of the dirt was on the jacket still wrapped around his hips. He picked up his notebook and made his way back to the spot where he had deposited his backpack earlier and tossed his dirty jacket inside. He carefully tucked his notebook into the backpack and zipped it up, unable to keep his mind from his mershark companion. Rei knew he wouldn't be able to focus on his research anymore. Today was a complete write-off project-wise.

_What is your family like? What kind of shark are you? How do you hunt? What kind of prey do you eat? Have you ever contacted another human before? If not, why me?_

These were a few of the questions that raced through Rei's mind, questions he now needed to know the answers to. Perhaps Rin would be okay with becoming the subject of Rei's project. University student discovers new species! Mermaids are real! Rei thought about the earthquake a discovery like this would send through the scientific community. Well, technically Rei didn't discover Rin, Rin had come to him. Why? 

"Why did he approach me? Does he want to be discovered? Obviously he does, or why would he have shown himself? But then why did he run when that couple was walking toward us on the beach? This is all very puzzling." He straightened his glasses as he crossed the street and began his walk home. 

As he passed by the park, he stopped suddenly and his face paled. "Wait, right before he ran off, he referred to me as 'pretty.' Why?" Rei blushed as he thought. "He also said he enjoyed my company. Wait... d-does he find me attractive?" He shook his head and began walking again. "A-Absolutely not, I'm sure he was just bantering with me. He probably does that to lots of people. Unless I'm the first person he's approached..." 

Rei sighed, steeling himself against his thoughts. "It won't do me any good to think about this until I have the opportunity to speak with him again." Instead, Rei placed his thoughts in what he should make for dinner that night, seeing as the sun was beginning to fall ever closer to the horizon. There were a few hours of daylight left, but it never hurt to get an early start on anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Rei decided on a simple donburi for supper that night. He felt he needed a recipe that would be difficult for him to mess up, considering that his mind was elsewhere at the moment. He did almost over cook the rice because he was thinking about Rin, but he managed to catch it in time, and his donburi turned out to be very appetizing. Rei thought about what Rin found to be appealing taste-wise. 

Studying ocean life was Rei's passion after all.

Deciding to organize his data from the day, Rei sat down at the desk in the corner of his bedroom. He planned on going to bed after finishing his organization of the day's findings. 

There wasn't much for him to go through today, and Rei didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he wouldn't be climbing into bed after midnight and would be able to get a decent night's rest, but on the other hand, he had been set back a whole day's research. 

Rei decided that this was a bad development. He really didn't want to do badly on this project and lose out on a good grade. Removing his glasses, he rubbed at his tired eyes. 

"Maybe I shouldn't go back to the shore tomorrow." he said to himself. "I shouldn't let myself be distracted by him. I really need to focus on this project." Rei sighed and slumped over in his desk chair. "No, that's preposterous, that exact spot is where I should continue my research. It would be completely illogical to move to a different stretch of beach. Plus I'm sure Rin-san would see me and approach no matter where I was working." Rei crushed his notebook shut, standing suddenly and knocking his desk chair over. Looking down at it and letting out a shaky breath, he reached down to set it back in its proper position. "I can't let him get to me. I'll just have to ask him to leave me alone, at least until my project is done. After all, I would like to learn more about him, so I don't want to cut him out of my life completely." 

Rei ambled over to his bed and toppled over, the mattress letting out a large gush of air as he collapsed into the comfort of sleep. 

\-----

The light woke Rei the next morning, gently streaming in for once instead of beaming into his eyes like a search light. He rolled onto his side to glance at the clock. 

It read 7:48 am. 

"Perfect." he croaked, voice hoarse from sleep. Stretching the weariness from his limbs, he threw the covers off his body. "I always love to start the day early and after sufficient rest." He sat up on the bed, swinging his legs over the side and resting his feet solidly on the hardwood floor. He ran one hand through his hair and reached for his glasses on the side table with the other. He fumbled around for a moment, finding only his clock and lamp. Rei stood, squinting as he shambled slowly around the room, his arms outstretched like a zombie. Reaching his desk, he ran his hands over the surface, finally finding his glasses and resting them on the bridge of his nose. His vision once again at 20/20, Rei turned to his dresser, pulling open the lower drawer and grabbing his favourite pair of pants: salmon-coloured corduroy. 

"Ahh, pink is such a beautiful colour." He shrugged off his butterfly-patterned pyjamas, folding them neatly and setting them back down on his bed. After securing the zipper on his pants, he decided on a plain white short-sleeved shirt and slipped it on, fastening every button perfectly and tucking in the hem. 

Rei placed a new pen into his backpack along with his notebook and some simple snack foods, as he was unsure if he would be back to the apartment for lunch. Wanting to spend as much time as possible today at the shore to make up for lost time yesterday, Rei gathered far more than he thought he would need. He even packed sunscreen. 

"It's always better to be over-prepared than left needing something." he said to the empty room.

After his filling breakfast, he snatched his bag from the desk, slipped on some simple shoes he didn't mind getting wet and set out for another day of research, remembering to lock the door behind him. As he descended the few flights of stairs, he thought about how to approach his situation with Rin.

"I definitely don't want to offend him, just have him leave me be for a few more days. I want to learn more about him, but I can't afford to be distracted by my curiosity right now." he sighed. "I hope Rin-san understands; I don't want to drive him off and have him never come back." He exited the building and walked the rest of the way to the beach in silence, but the gears in his brain never stopped turning, formulating plans and notes regarding both his project and Rin.

Reaching the shore, Rei set his backpack down on the same rock that he had before and pulled out his notebook and new pen, flipping to a fresh page and jotting the date down in the top corner. He looked out over the ocean, fully expecting to see a sharp dorsal fin protruding up over the surface.

He saw nothing but ocean and sky.

Unperturbed, Rei rolled up the cuffs of his pants and got to work.

\----------

The sun shone warm over the beach that morning, beating down a good mood to the three boys sunning on an outstretch of weather-worn rocks about a hundred metres from the shore. Makoto's large size didn't allow him to climb up on to the narrow bank, so he draped only his chest over the rocks, leaving his tail under the water, though his tall, black dorsal fin was visible. They always stayed just out of sight of the main road.

"You have a crush on a human."

Rin suddenly found himself less than pleased with his mermaid friend.

"Shut up, Haru! What would you know about it anyway?" Rin blushed and sneered at Haruka, nudging his brilliantly blue-scaled tail in a half-hearted attempt to push him off the rock and back into the shallow waters along the shore. "You've never felt like that about anyone," Rin pointed to Makoto. "and he doesn't count! You don't like him enough to want to kiss him, and he's too big for you anyway." 

"I like Makoto." Haruka stated, his expression unchanged.

"Haru, you don't want to kiss him though!" Rin slapped Haruka's shoulder. 

"That's irrelevant. I still like him a lot." 

A loud, exasperated groan flew from Rin's throat. Haruka was so dense.

"Also, are you trying to imply that you want to kiss this human? Because that's what I'm getting from our conversation."

Rin stuttered and went into defensive mode. "I-I didn't say that!" He ran a hand through his hair. 

Haruka quickly turned his head to Makoto, throwing him a knowing look. 

Makoto smiled warmly at Haruka, but his face fell when he turned back to Rin. "I don't know, Rin. Do you think it's a good idea to be contacting humans? Surely you've heard the stories they tell about us?" Makoto shuddered at the thought of the tales humans could weave. 

"Not this guy, he's..." Rin snickered, remembering some of the odd things Rei had said and done in that short time they had spent together. "different, and definitely in more ways than just his views on sea life." Rin relaxed, stretching out his tail over the rock. "I'm meeting him again today."

Makoto paled, throwing his hands up in a sign of caution. "Please Rin, be careful! You can never be sure of what these humans will do, and I would hate to lose one of my best friends to one of them!" 

"Don't worry, Makoto! I'll be fine! I'm a shark, after all, and this guy seems harmless. Actually, he's pretty lame, now that I think about it!" he laughed. 

"I'm still apprehensive about this. Promise me that you'll be careful, Rin. Haru, please tell Rin to be careful!" Makoto turned to Haruka, ready to plead his point of view regarding Rin's current affairs, but Haru was no longer resting on the rock.

"Haru!" Makoto called out over the water. "You have to stop doing that!" He slipped back into the water after his best friend. "Sorry Rin, I need to find him, but please think about what I said!" He dipped below the surface to begin his search, but Makoto could read Haruka like one could read their favourite book - it was so familiar that the story was planted in the mind like a treasured memory. Makoto knew exactly where he would be; Haruka was a very habitual creature. 

Rin scoffed, slapping his tail onto the rock. "What does Makoto know about Rei? He's never even meet him." he grumbled, slipping into the waiting water and swimming around to have a clear view of the beach. He saw Rei coming closer, backpack looking stuffed full of supplies. He seemed intent on settling in for the day. 

He wanted to wait a while before approaching again. He watched as Rei took out his notebook and pen before looking out over the open ocean, a longing hint in his eye that Rin didn't catch from his distance.

Rin's powerful tail quickly propelled him behind a stretch of small boulders so he would be hidden from Rei's line of sight. He sat studying him, completely disregarding the world and Makoto's words.

\------

The water strider bug Rei had found proved to be very interesting. Rei thought it remarkable how they always skirted around on top of the ripples, never breaking the surface tension of the water - never sinking. He stepped into the water and turned to face the shore, wanting to corral a few of them to study more closely. Crouching down to get closer to the tiny bugs, he scribbled down the colour of the ones he saw, noting patterns. He poked lightly at a few, recording escape speed across the water. 

Suddenly, a hand laid itself upon his lower back, and Rei shot up from his crouching position, screeching and sending the little bugs skirting away for safer waters. A familiar voice wafted up to his ears on the ocean breeze. Rei jerked around and found Rin half-submerged in the shallow waves, laughter pouring out into the ocean air.

"Rin-san, please! Scaring someone every time you meet them isn't very nice!"

"But I have a feeling that it's going to happen a lot! Plus that noise you make never gets old!" Rin rose up and wrapped an arm around the younger boy's thigh, resting his cheek against Rei's hip. The air grew warm as Rin looked up at him, baring his teeth in a smug grin. Rei tried to step away from his grip, but he was anchored to the spot.

"Rin-san, please let me go." He sighed a deep breath. "I have something important to ask you."

The seriousness of his voice startled Rin, but he had expected Rei to have more questions. The boy was a curious one.

"Ask away, but first," He released Rei's leg, leaving the water and climbing up onto a small, nearby rock. He sat slightly sideways to avoid bending any of his fins. As he climbed onto the rock, Rei noticed that the grey hide of his shark-half extended up his back before giving way to the softer human skin. His dorsal fin was situated just above where his tailbone would have been if he had legs. He motioned Rei over, patting the rock next to him in invitation. "sit."

Rei sat down upon the stone's mostly-dry surface and set his notebook carefully next to him. "I'm sorry Rin-san, I don't quite know how to say this, but I hope you don't take it the wrong way." Rei straightened his back and inhaled a sharp breath. "As much as I would love to learn more about your species, I think that we shouldn't see each other for a while." 

When Rin didn't reply, Rei glanced over and saw him staring dumbfounded into his eyes, jaw slack.

"I-I mean just for a short time! Y-You see, I really need to focus on my project! Just until next Wednesday, that's when I need to hand in my finished paper!"

Rin grunted quietly in acknowledgement of Rei's proposal, then a puzzled look flashed on his face. "Project? What do you mean?" It had never occurred to Rei that he would have no idea what a project was. This was another thing that he would have to explain, thus more time taken from his day of research. 

"In this instance, my project is research that I'm doing for one of my teachers at my school." Rei explained in the simplest terms he could think of. "If I do well, my teacher will give me a high score, and that'll help me later in life." 

Rin tapped his chin in thought before nodding once, seeming to understand. "And that makes you happy?"

"Yes! I find studying ocean life incredibly interesting!" The volume of Rei's voice was perhaps a tad bit louder than he'd wanted.

"I wasn't talking about that. Anyone can see that you love to watch sea creatures." Rin side-eyed him. "I'm talking about doing it for a high score, like you said. You like that?"

Rei thought for a moment. Did he? He always found his heart beating quicker when he got back a test with a perfect grade, but did he feel that out of genuine happiness, or was it relief? Rei loved to be at the top of the class, so as the professor would hand back the papers, he would feel anticipation and dread. What if the grade was bad? Rei would be crushed when he had worked so hard to do well - to be better than everyone else. If the grade was good, he would feel immensely proud of himself because all his studying had paid off; his hard work was worth it and he was the best. So, with that, Rei found that really did enjoy it; he enjoyed the feeling of knowing he did better that the others in his classes. He treated every assignment as a competition, and Rei loved to win.

Rei nodded firmly. "Yes, I do. I love getting a high score, or as it's more commonly called, a high grade." He leaned back, looking to the sky. "I kind of think of it as a game. I try to do better than everyone else in my class. If I get a high grade, it feels as though I've won." 

Rin took hold of Rei's hand, gripping it tightly. Rei jumped and glanced over, seeing Rin's eyes bright with excitement, his muscles tense where he gripped Rei's palm. 

"I can definitely understand that feeling!" he exclaimed. "I love to win too! I try to race with Haru all the time, but he doesn't usually want to." Rin's face turned to a scowl as he growled his frustrations. "It's really annoying. How are we ever going to get faster if we never practice?"

Inately curious, Rei pressed on. "Practice? For what?  
"  
"Hm?" Rin snapped his head up to meet Rei's eyes. "Oh, hunting obviously. We need food to live." Rin looked back down, his brows furrowing in thought. "Well, I guess Haru doesn't need meat to live like I do. He eats shore food sometimes." 

Rei noticed that Rin still hadn't let go of his hand, so he wiggled it slightly in an attempt to free it from his tight grip. He showed no sign of letting it go anytime soon, so Rei resigned himself to the touch for now, allowing the contact to continue. 

"Excuse me, but who is 'Haru'?" Rei asked.

"Oh, Haru is my friend; he's a mermaid." he explained, glancing back to Rei. "He has dark hair and his tail is blue. He always hangs out with our other friend Makoto. They're practically inseparable."

"And this Makoto? Is she a mermaid as well?" Rei was getting lost in Rin's world. 

Rin chuckled at that. "He's actually half-whale. Orca to be specific."

"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that Makoto is usually a girl's name!" He turned away from Rin and chastised himself mentally. Of course he shouldn't assume things about people just based on names. He knew how it felt to be in that situation, as people often mistook him for a girl based on his name as well.

Rin shook his head, finally untangling his hand from Rei's and placing it on his shoulder. "It's no big deal. I'm sure he wouldn't mind; he's an orca, but sometimes he seems more like a beluga. You know what I mean?" He laughed at his joke and, to his pleasure, Rei chuckled along with him. 

"Yes, I think I understand. You're saying his temperament is unlike the usual orca, correct? Belugas are such gentle whales and orcas are called the 'king of the sea' because they're a fierce predator, but your Makoto doesn't fit the description."

Rin snickered at Rei's description. "Yes, that's right, but you know, if you have to explain the joke, it usually ruins it." 

"I was just making sure we were both on the same page!" He crossed his arms.

"You know, I'm really surprised that you're not shocked to hear that all these different kinds of fish people exist." 

"Well, after meeting you, do you think I would be surprised that more of you exist? You saw my face when I first saw you, then you mentioned that you had mermaid friends, so naturally I assumed that there were plenty more of you in all ranges of different species."

"Yeah, your face was priceless!" Rin laughed again, and Rei found that the sound was quite pleasing. "You were so shocked; your mouth was hanging open like one of those weird deep-sea fish! You're such weird guy." 

"Excuse me!? You think it's everyday that a person meets a half-shark man?! You're not really a common spec-"

"Hey, I could help you with your project, if you'd like?"

The sudden shift in conversation as well as the topic Rin had chosen startled him. "Absolutely not!" he exclaimed. "That would be like cheating! You would never take a shortcut during a race just to win, would you?" Rei clenched his fists. "That's just wrong! Where's the honor in that?"

"Woah, calm down! It was just a suggestion! I have a lot of knowledge about ocean animals so I figured I could help you." He sounded dejected. 

"I'm sorry Rin-san, but this is something that I have to do on my own, using only my own skills." he explained. "I hope you understand." 

Rin sighed deeply and laid his hand on Rei's thigh. "We're quite similar, aren't we?"

Rei glanced over to see Rin watching him through his bangs. For the first time, he realized that Rin's eyes were a vibrant, striking red. Everything about him was red. The scar he pointed out yesterday was red. The stones of his jewellry were red. His claws were red. His hair was red, and when it was flowing free in the water, Rei was sure it would look like a cloud of blood that he had let loose from his helpless prey.

"You think so?" Rei adjusted his glasses and glanced into Rin's eyes. The intense colour causing his heart to beat fast and the sweet smile on Rin's lips quickening the pace of his breath. Flustered by his reaction, Rei severed eye contact and turned his head away. 

"Yeah, I think we are." he replied, pulling his hand from Rei's thigh. He fell silent and looked out to the sea, dipping his tail fin into the water. 

There was a bit of silence between them until Rei's next question quietly slipped into the air of the morning.

"Is that why you came to me?"

His words earned him a quizzical look from Rin. "Hmm?" 

"Because we're similar? Compatible?" he explained, a hopeful tone edging his voice.

Rin flashed his teeth in low laughter once more. "How could I have known that before I talked to you?" He slipped off the rock back into the rising tide and used his upper body strength to pull himself toward deeper waters. "Anyway, I already told you one of the reasons that I wanted to meet you!" Quickly reaching an area where he could swim with ease, he turned back to Rei. "I'll see you on Wednesday, okay?" Then he plunged under the waves, the point of his tail breaching the surface for a split-second before falling just as quickly as it had risen.

Rei jumped off the rock. "Wait! What does that mean? When?" he cried, but there was no answer awaiting him, only an endless stretch of sea. 

He sighed and pushed up his glasses, exasperated. "Why do I feel that this is going to be a common outcome of our meetings? He'll scare me in greeting then at the end of our conversation, he'll leave me confused." 

Rei shook his head and retrieved his notebook from the rock. Flipping to a new page, he deciding to continue with his research. He had succeeded in getting Rin to leave him alone until Wednesday, so he was going to make the best of that time, regardless of the fact that Rin was a very confusing creature who loved to leave him with more questions after their parting than he had had before they had met. However, Rin's words about their similarities came to his mind once more.

So Rin loved to win just as much as Rei did? 

Rei smiled, laughing quietly to himself. "I'll have to show Rin-san just how much I can do, and I'll do that by getting a perfect score on this project!" He threw his hands on his hips and burst out in laughter, new motivation pushing him to do well.

\------

Red hair erupted from the waves and watched Rei from a distance, one eyebrow raised. 

'This guy is really something.' he thought, snickering to himself. 

"Is that him?"

Rin jumped, yelping and sending startled ripples out around him. He turned quickly to see Haruka peeking out from the water, watching Rei, his face blank.

"Yeah, so?" Rin snapped, scratching the back of his head.

"Why is he laughing like that?" Haruka's expression didn't change.

"How should I know? I'm not him, am I?" he growled. 

Haruka side eyed him, and even though his face was blank as ever, Rin could tell that he was laughing at him for falling for this weird human.

"Shut up, Haru." He turned his body away from his friend.

"I didn't say anything." 

"You said it with your eyes!" Rin barked, snapping his head back to face Haruka. "Where's Makoto, anyway? Why don't you bother him instead of me?"

Haruka's eyes darkened as he looked down into the calm waters.

Rin understood right away. The look on Haruka's face said it all.

"Ahh, after finding you, he went to spend time with Sousuke." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You know, it's obvious that you don't like Sousuke, but what do you have against him anyway? He's a pretty decent guy once you get to know him, and don't you think Makoto would be happy if you two got along?"

Haruka didn't reply.

"Haru?" Rin gave the vicinity a quick search, but Haruka was already gone, hidden far beneath the waves. "Haru!" Rin smashed his fist into the water. "You can't keep running away from your problems, you stupid fish!" He took off, diving below the surface and seizing the chance for a makeshift race.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new character woo

Rei spent the next three days working exclusively on his final project. All the data he had gathered over the preceding weeks was meticulously arranged and rearranged until it met his impossibly-high standards. The bar was set at nothing short of absolute perfection. 

Thanks to Rei's way with words and his borderline-obsessive planning, it only took him thirty minutes to draft out his fifteen-page paper. His spirits were high as he thought of the grade this masterpiece would earn him. The cumulative work of his difficult and, more recently, bizarre year of university was all laid out on the page, just asking to be transformed into an informative and beautiful ode to the crustaceans, fish, and insects of the inter-tidal zone. Rei felt his heart flutter with excitement; he couldn't wait to start.

His phone buzzing loudly on the desk ripped him from his concentration. He began to reach for it, but stopped and retracted his hand, holding it close to his chest. 

"I can't let myself be distracted now. Once I finish this paper, I'll reintroduce social media and friends back into my life." Rei snatched his phone and quickly shut it off, tossing it gently onto his bed and allowing it to be lost between the sheets.

Rei took a sip of tea and turned back to his laptop. Opening a new writing file, he began to write and quickly fell into a comfortable and speedy rhythm.

\-----

After his sixth page of peaceful concentration, a series of frantic bangs on the door of his apartment ripped him from his paper and derailed his train of thought. 

"Hmm, I'll just wait for it to stop, then get back to work." he said quietly, knowing he wouldn't be able to concentrate at all until the banging had stopped, but even after a full minute, it hadn't stopped, and the person on the other side seemed relentless. 

"There's only one person it could be." Rei thought, resigning himself to his ill-timed visitor.

"Rei-chan!! Are you home?"

Rei rose from his chair and headed to the door. He pulled it open briskly and came face-to-face with Nagisa, who threw his arms around Rei in a tight hug.

"I knew you were here, Rei-chan! Why did it take you so long to open the door? Are you trying to avoid me? You're so mean, Rei-chan!"

Rei untangled himself from Nagisa'a arms and took a step back into his apartment, gesturing for Nagisa to enter as well. "No Nagisa-kun, you know how much enjoy your company." Rei walked back toward his chair and sat down. "I've just been working on my final project for biology." He gestured to the screen. 

Nagisa peered wide-eyed at Rei's final project on the computer screen. "Oh, your fish thing?" 

Rei grimaced. "Yes, my fish thing."

"Ohh, how far are you?" 

"I've just completed six pages." Rei beamed.

"Six? Ah, that's way too much!" Nagisa flopped down onto Rei's bed, sitting in a hunched-over position that Rei thought looked incredibly uncomfortable and probably was very bad for his spine.

"On the contrary, Nagisa-kun, it's not enough! I'm planning on this paper being fifteen pages long!" 

In that moment, Rei swore he saw Nagisa's soul leave his body. After a short instance of Nagisa sitting motionless on the bed staring into thin air, he shook off his initial shock and looked Rei in the eye. 

"So Rei-chan, what kind of cool stuff are you writing about?" Nagisa asked, completely shifting focus away from the length of Rei's paper to more interesting topics.

"I saw a plethora of beautiful oceanic specimens at the beach, Nagisa-kun! The ocean truly is an amazing place." Rei sighed.

"Wow Rei-chan, you sound like you met the woman of your dreams! Was she a beautiful mermaid?" Nagisa laughed as Rei blushed fiercely. "Did her scales shine like the sun?" Nagisa fell back on the bed clutching his stomach as he howled with laughter at Rei's increasingly-red face.

"I did not meet a mermaid, Nagisa-kun!" Rei sputtered. "I saw some insects and a very small hermit crab!" 

Nagisa suddenly stopped laughing. "That's it? Well that's nothing to be excited about!" Nagisa waved a hand through the air dismissively. "At least you'd have a cool story to tell if you really did meet a mermaid!"

Rei turned away. "That's preposterous. Mermaids don't exist. They're simply a fairy tale, nothing more."

"Don't be so naive, Rei-chan! The ocean is a huge place; you told me that, like, ninety percent of the ocean in still unexplored, so you can't really believe that mermaids don't exist!"

Rei thought for a moment, trying to decide the best thing to say to Nagisa without making his knowledge of Rin known. The boy was surprisingly observant.

"Perhaps you are right, Nagisa-kun. I may have been a little too hasty in denying your theory." Rei turned back toward him. "If you ever discover a mermaid, I will back your findings one hundred percent."

Nagisa began to laugh once again. "Rei-chan, out of the two of us, you'll be the one to discover the mermaid!" 

"W-what? Why do you say that?" 

"Because you're the one who's practically married to the ocean! I bet one day you'll be living in a little house by the sea and you'll find a beautiful mermaid with long blonde hair and you'll have little mermaid babies with her!" 

Nagisa was practically dying of laughter, but Rei was beyond flustered. "Nagisa-kun, that's completely insane! Even if by some crazy, very unlikely circumstance, mermaids actually did exist and I actually did meet one in the flesh, I certainly wouldn't fall in love with him!" Rei blanched. "I mean her!!" 

The room was suddenly silent. Nagisa's mouth was hanging open, dumbfounded as he stared at Rei's reddening cheeks. "Rei-chan, are you gay?"

Rei almost fainted right there in his desk chair. "No, Nagisa-kun," He shook his head frantically. "I am not gay! I just made a tiny verbal error! Nothing to get hung up on! I've just been working tirelessly on my project, so my brain is a little overworked!"

"It sounds like you're definitely overworked, Rei-chan! Let's go to the park for a few hours so you can let your brain rest!" 

Rei sighed in relief at Nagisa changing the subject. "I'm sorry, Nagisa-kun, I'm afraid my brain won't be able to rest until this project is done." He gave Nagisa a stern look. "The best thing you can do for me right now is give me some privacy so I can work." 

A dejected expression settled itself on Nagisa's features. "But Rei-chan, I haven't seen you in a week!"

Rei put his hands on his hips. "Nagisa-kun, I saw you yesterday at school!"

"But that was just in class! We didn't really hang out, so it doesn't count!" 

Rei sighed. "Okay, I promise I will call you as soon as I'm done this paper, then we can go for dinner. Sound fair?" 

"But what if you never finish and you fall into some sort of paper-writing limbo where you end up writing the same page over and over again, and then you're doomed to write a boring fish paper for all eternity?" Nagisa threw his arms up. "Then who'll entertain me, Rei-chan?"

All Rei could do was stare incredulously at his unbelievable friend, severe concern wrinkling his brow. "Nagisa-kun, how does your mind work?"

"Just like yours, Rei-chan!" 

"I severely doubt that." Rei scoffed. "Now, Nagisa-kun, please let me work on my paper." He turned back toward his computer. "I was doing very well until you came in and interrupted me."

Nagisa pulled a face, but he didn't try to argue as he stood from the bed and walked over to the door to let himself out. He stopped just short of the exit and turned his head back toward Rei. "Okay, Rei-chan, but you promise to hang out with me when you're done, right?"

Rei didn't look up from the screen. "Of course, Nagisa-kun. Do you think I would lie to you?" 

Nagisa smiled as he twisted the doorknob and opened the door, letting the natural light stream in. "Never! I don't even think you can lie! You're too goody-goody! Well, I'll see you in a few hours, Rei-chan!" he exclaimed as he left the apartment and shut the door behind him.

Rei stopped typing and sighed. "Yeah, see you soon." he said quietly. Rei felt bad about what he had said(or not said) to Nagisa about his 'mermaid', but Rei really couldn't just come out and tell Nagisa everything about Rin. It just wouldn't be safe. Rei pictured Nagisa getting a bit too excited and spilling about Rin to someone who had the power to hurt him, and Rei couldn't live with himself if he somehow caused either Nagisa or Rin any grief.

Knowledge of Rin was something that he would have to carry all on his own.

Taking another sip of tea, Rei steeled himself for another few hours of work.

\----

After two more hours of constant tapping on his keyboard, Rei's paper was completely written.

Another twenty minutes and it was fully edited and ready.

Satisfied and confident, Rei saved the final draft of his project on his hard drive, then he transferred a copy to his USB drive. He disconnected the drive from the computer and held it up in the air.

"My professor would have to be an absolute oaf to not give me a perfect grade on this!" Rei began to laugh. "Yes, this paper is one of my crowning achievements! Guaranteed perfection!" He secured the USB stick with his precious work in a hidden pocket in his backpack, safely kept from prying hands that may try to steal his hard-earned grade.

With his project out of the way, he searched through the sheets on his bed for his phone. Upon finding it, he switched in back on and set it on his desk, remaking his bed while the messages from Nagisa flooded in. After a minute or so, the beeps and vibrations finally stopped and Rei had lost count of how many there had been. 

"Calm down, Nagisa-kun. Goodness." Rei sighed, as he flattened his comforter down, smoothing out the very last wrinkle. He then turned back to the desk and snatched his phone, lighting up the screen and seeing the forty-seven messages and five missed calls. 

"Oh my god." Rei paled. He opened his chat string with Nagisa and found that only the first four messages were anything worth reading. After that, Nagisa had just sent 'Rei-chan' over and over again, until the second-to-last message that read 'im comin over" and the last one sent from after Nagisa had left Rei's apartment that said 'dont forget 2 text me!'

Rei sighed and began to tap out a text message.

'Nagisa-kun, I have completed my project. Where would you like to go for dinner?'

It only took a moment for him to receive a message back. 

'saizeriya!' 

'Really, Nagisa-kun? Cheap imitation-Italian food?'

'why not, Rei-chan? it's cheap and tastes pretty good'

'I beg to differ, but I did leave the restaurant choice up to you. Meet me there in fifteen minutes.'

'ok!' 

Knowing that Nagisa would be late, Rei didn't bother to leave his apartment for fifteen minutes. He spent that time looking over the few notes he had written about Rin. He wrote in extra-messy scribble and a personal form of shorthand just in case someone found his notes and he couldn't explain it away as being a fictional story he was working on. Anyone who knew Rei well enough would never believe he was working on a story in place of his research.

'Rin-san'

carcharo-sapi  
l: 215?  
l or g? both???  
more in-depth req 

competitive  
assertive  
intimidating - definitely!!

Rei had also half-consciously written 'rather attractive' while he was very tired one night, but upon discovering it the next morning, he hastily erased all traces that he could from the page and scratched out the rest. Rei glanced at that spot on the page and blushed a little.

"Rin-san is not someone who should be of any interest to me, besides for research purposes, of course." He adjusted his glasses. "Sure, he is attractive, but so are mollusks. He's a totally different species from me, it would be insane to find him sexually attractive." Rei announced to the empty room. He checked the clock and figured now would be a good time to leave and go meet Nagisa for dinner. He flipped his notebook shut and grabbed his bag from the floor next to the desk. Rei slipped on his outdoor shoes and pulled the door open, stepping out into the heat of the early evening. 

After a few minutes of walking, Rei reached the train station and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He quickly looked at the message on the screen.

'sorry Rei-chan, im gonna b a little late!"

Rei smiled and typed out his response as he stepped onto the train. 

'It's not a problem, Nagisa-kun. I will still be here when you arrive.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was in Japan, I went to a Saizeriya with a friend(Canadian living in Japan) and our total bill was around 1500 yen. then my other friend(Japanese) told me that Saizeriya is where a lot of high school students eat because it's cheap, so yeah, Nagisa would eat that shit up.


	4. Chapter 4

Nagisa had managed to eat 3000 yen worth of food at Saizeriya, which was a scene that nearly caused Rei to vomit. How Nagisa could eat so much and where the heck he put it all would forever remain a mystery to Rei. It really wasn’t something he had any interest in researching.

Contrary to the Saizeriya incident, when Rei handed in his project the next day, there wasn’t anything in the world that could have broken his spirit. He knew he had a winning paper, and his marks would prove it.

Rei’s biology professor, Nakagawa-sensei, was an incredibly smart man and someone that Rei really admired. He had only recently joined the university staff, and was perhaps only in his mid-thirties. His hair was a rich shade of chocolate brown, and he wore black-rimmed glasses similar to Rei’s own. His teaching style was less focused on endless reading and more about field work and getting a hands-on approach. It was new to Rei, but after doing his own supplemental readings, he found that he enjoyed it quite a bit.

Nakagawa stood at the head of the classroom. “Everyone, I’d like you all to continue learning and researching over the break. Never let your mind stagnate! Of course, I have no way to make you and you won’t be graded on it, but you should always try to learn something new every day.” he said. Then he smiled and waved his hand, dismissing the class. “Alright everyone, get outta here and enjoy your summer break.”

As everyone piled out of the classroom, Rei stayed behind. Nakagawa pulled a face.

“Ryuugazaki-kun, go enjoy your summer! You’ve worked hard this year, and I’m sure you deserve a good break.”

Rei bowed deeply. “Thank you very much, Nakagawa-sensei, for teaching me this year.”

Nakagawa laughed. “You don’t have to be so formal with me, Ryuugazaki-kun, but I would like to say the same to you. You are a very likable student. You learn quickly and do quality work. I’m sure your paper will be outstanding; I look forward to reading it.” He smiled warmly at Rei.

Rei perked up. “Thank you very much, Nakagawa-sensei. I’m sure you will find my paper of the highest degree. I spent a lot of time collecting data for it, but,” Rei wrung his hands. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I was just wondering how frequently researchers discover new ocean species. Is it quite often?”

Nakagawa chuckled. “Oh yes, Ryuugazaki-kun, scientists are discovering new ocean life all the time! Variants of ocean insects, fish, and even sharks are constantly being found.” Nakagawa tilted his head curiously. “Why do you ask?”

Rei shook his head. “Oh, no reason in particular! I was just curious!”

“I like that about you, Ryuugazaki-kun. You’re always asking questions; take that attitude with you wherever you go and you’ll get far.” Nakagawa said, his smile warm.

“I will, Nakagawa-sensei. Thank you very much.”

Then Nakagawa pointed toward the door. “Now get out of here. Go enjoy your summer.”

Rei nodded. “I will. Goodbye, Nakagawa-sensei.” he said before leaving the classroom, allowing the door to shut behind him.

Nakagawa shook his head. “What a guy.”

—-

That afternoon, after a quick stop at his apartment to have lunch, Rei went back to the beach to meet Rin. The day was very warm, and Rei wore only shorts and a t-shirt. The weather was finally starting to feel like summer. Rei had been to the beach every day (except the day he worked on his paper) since he had last talked to Rin, but Rin had left him alone just as Rei had asked.

He pulled a small blanket out of his bag and laid it out on a rock, settling down near some thick bushes jutting out over the water and trying to get comfortable. He had no idea when Rin would show up, so he reached into his bag and took out a book, hoping to pass the time a little quicker while he waited. He opened the cover and began to read, looking out over the ocean every once in a while, scanning for a shock of red among the waves.

After an hour or so, Rei was fully engrossed in his book, his eyes never leaving the page. He continued his enthusiastic reading until he heard someone call out to him.

“What are you reading?”

Rei was a little startled by the voice and he looked around to see who had spoken. His first thought was that it was Rin, but upon looking out over the water, he saw no red hair.

Instead, he saw black.

There was a boy about his age staring up at him from the water a few metres out, his eyes a breath-taking crystal blue. Rei could only see from his shoulders up; the rest of his body was submerged.

“Oh,” Rei started slowly. “I’m just reading about shark biology.” He couldn’t help but wonder if he knew this guy. Usually, strangers didn’t just approach him and ask about his research. “And you, what are you doing?”

The dark-haired stranger narrowed his eyes at Rei. “I’m swimming.”

Rei flushed. He shouldn’t have asked that question. It was obvious that he was swimming. Embarrassed, Rei tried to change the subject. “Well, the weather is quite nice today, isn’t it?”

The boy looked up at the sky. “Yes.” he replied. He then looked back to Rei, his eyes murky with judgement. They scanned quickly as Rei squirmed under his gaze. Then he looked away, satisfied with his overview of this awkward human. “I’m going now.”

Rei watched him dive under the water and swim out of sight behind one of the nearby bushes, then he was gone.

“Okay… um, goodbye then?” Rei stuttered out.

After that, Rei found it difficult to continue reading. “What a bizarre encounter. He didn’t even introduce himself.” 

Rei tried his best to continue reading, and he managed to get through another few pages before a small rock landed in the sand next to him.

Rei looked away from his book down toward where the stone had landed. He searched the immediate area for someone who may have thrown it, but he found no one. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but ultimately returned to his book.

“Psst, Rei!”

Looking up from his book once more, he saw Rin waving at him from near were he had seen the other boy earlier.

“Rin-san! I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour!” he stated, but he couldn’t really find it in himself to be angry with Rin.

“Well, do you expect me to wait around for you all day? You never gave me a time that you would be here.” Rin growled, keeping his tail underwater.

“Oh yes, I suppose that would have been easier, but I really didn’t know when I was going to arrive.” Rei ran his hand through his hair.

“It’s no problem, Rei. I’m here now, aren’t I?” Rin swam closer.

“Yes, Rin-san, and I’m glad.” Rei smiled warmly, and Rin felt his stomach flip. At that moment, Rin resolved to make Rei smile more often; it was something that he loved seeing.

Rei removed his notebook from his backpack and searched inside for his pen, but he couldn’t find it anywhere in his bag.

“Oh, I know I put my pen in here. Where is it?”

“Here.”

Rei looked back to where Rin was resting in the water to see him holding up a pen. Not the same pen that he was looking for, but a pen nonetheless. Rei looked confused.

“Rin-san, why do you have a pen?”

Rin blinked and raised an eyebrow. “Hm? You dropped it, remember?”

“When did I drop th-”

Suddenly Rei remembered. He stood quickly and dropped his notebook in the sand.

“On the first day. When we first met.” he said in disbelief. “Is that the same pen?”

Rin held out the pen toward him, nodding.

Rei approached Rin, their fingers brushing as he took the pen from Rin’s hand. “How did you find it?”

“When the tide came in, it floated to the surface.” Rin shrugged. “It wasn’t hard.”

“Well, thank you, Rin-san.” Rei said quietly, bowing his head.

Rin’s cheeks tinged pink as he scratched behind his neck. Rei turned and walked back toward the rock he had been sitting on and picked up his notebook. He then looked back to Rin.

“Are you going to come up on the shore today?” he asked.

Rin gazed up at him and nodded. “Yeah, but would you mind if we went over here?” He pointed his thumb behind the bushes. “Out of sight of the main road, you know?”

“Sure, I understand.” Rei tucked his belongings back in his bag and looked toward the bushes, seeking a way through the thick brush. He noticed an area where the foliage wasn’t as dense and slung his backpack over his shoulders, climbing through the branches and quickly emerging on the other side where a pristine stretch of sand greeted him. Rei was wonder-struck by the sight and stood gazing over the beach, a few leaves stuck in his hair.

“Beautiful.” he remarked as Rin quickly swam around the bushes to meet him.

“Pretty nice, huh?” Rin left the water and pulled his tail across the sand to settle himself down on a dry patch. Rei pulled the blanket from his bag and set it out, sitting down next to Rin and grabbing his notebook and graciously-returned pen.

“Rin-san, this beach is very beautiful. How did I not notice it was here?”

“Humans generally aren’t very observant.” Rin snickered. “You included.” he added, eyeing the leaves in Rei’s hair.

Rei shrieked, “Excuse you! I am extremely observant!”

Rin pushed up close to Rei’s face, and Rei could feel Rin’s breath on his cheek. “You wish, nerd.” Rin leaned away and began to brush the sand from his fins. “Humans don’t come here. It’s usually deserted. You didn’t notice it, and you’ve been coming here every day for two weeks.”

Embarrassed by his inattention, Rei focused anywhere but Rin. “I was busy working on my project.” he mumbled.

Rin laughed as he wiped the sand from his body, the sound carrying out over the waves. “It’s okay, Rei. I understand.” He put on a mocking voice. “You were busy.”

“Rin-san, can we please talk about something else?” he grumbled.

Rin glanced up at Rei. “Like what? How pretty you are?” he said dryly.

“Why do you keep saying that?” Rei inquired, suspiciously eyeing Rin.

Rin waved his hand. “Relax Rei, I’m just playing with you.” He finished with the sand and leaned in close again, raising his bicep directly into Rei’s line of sight and beginning to pluck the leaves from his hair. “I love that silly look you get on your face when I say it.” Rin chuckled. “It makes me laugh.”

Rei gulped down his surprise and swatted Rin’s hand away from his hair, a small blush dusting his cheeks. “I-I see. You’re only joking around. That’s something you seem to like doing.” Rei readied his pen. “Is that something all mersharks enjoy, or just you?”

“Nah, we’re all different.” Rin brought his hand back up to Rei’s hair again, picking more twigs and leaves out. Rei sighed and allowed it this time. “We all have separate personalities, just like you humans.”

Rei jotted down some notes. “Do mersharks partake in familial grooming?” he said, unimpressed.

Rin laughed wholeheartedly as he continued plucking the leaves from Rei’s hair. “Not usually. I just get the feeling that you’re the kind of guy who likes to look good.”

Rei’s eyes flew wide in surprise. How could Rin read him so well?

“So, do you have any other questions for me that you’re gonna write down in that book?”

“Uhh, yes!” Rei stuttered as Rin brushed his claws through his hair slowly, removing the last of the twigs. “S-So, Rin-san, I’d like to know a little bit more about you, if that’s alright?”

Rin nodded once, lowering his hand and lying down on his side. “No problem. Ask away.”

“Um, do you have gills or lungs?”

“Both.” Rin answered.

“Fascinating!” Rei wrote a few scribbles in his notebook. “You have the gills for underwater breathing and lungs for surface breathing?”

“Yes.” Rin glanced up at Rei, bored by the turn of conversation.

“What kind of shark are you?”

Rin narrowed his glance in confusion. “What do you mean? I’m a mershark.”

“Well, I’m sure you know about the different species of sharks. Are you, say, a Great White? Or maybe a Bull? Tiger? Mako?”

“I’m a Great White. I’m actually more closely related to merfolk than to other sharks, but there are subspecies of merfolk. Some of us are bigger or smaller and we have different tails. My sister is a different breed of shark from me.”

“So different species of merfolk.” Rei jotted that down in his book. “And your sister… What is her subspecies?” Rei asked.

Rin yawned quietly, suddenly feeling drowsy as he lazed in the sun. “She’s a whitetip.”

Excited by the information he was receiving, Rei splashed writing down onto the page, not even looking up as he asked question after question. “And your sister, is she younger or older?”

“Younger. Her name is Gou.”

“Amazing!” Rei exclaimed. “And your parents? They’re mersharks as well?”

Rin hesitated. He didn’t really like to talk about his parents, but he especially didn’t want to wipe that curious excitement from Rei’s face.

“Uh, yeah, they are. Mum’s the great white and dad’s the whitetip.” he answered cautiously.

“So subspecies of merfolk can mate?” Rei’s pen flew across the paper as he wrote.

“Yes.”

“And how long are you, Rin-san?” Rei changed the topic suddenly, his eyes shining with curiosity.

Perking up at that and sitting up again, Rin smirked. “Oh, maybe about seventeen centimetres.”

Rei laughed weakly and looked at Rin like he was an idiot. “Rin-san, you’re much taller than seventeen centimetres.” He glanced down to the tip of Rin’s caudal fin. “I’d estimate about two metres or so. Do you know your full height?”

“Oh, you mean my height. Yeah, I think it’s around two metres.”

Confusion flashed in Rei’s expression. “Of course I mean height. What did you mean?”

“Nothing. Just being funny to see that silly expression of yours again.” he joked.

“I see.” Rei pulled a tape measure from his bag. “Would you mind if I recorded your full height?”

“Go ahead.” Rin laid flat on his side as Rei’s face lit up. He jumped up from the blanket and circled around through the sand to hand Rin one end of the measuring tape.

“Here, Rin-san, please hold this riiight-” Rei went down to his knees, bringing his face close to Rin’s to make sure the position of the tape measure was precise. “here! Don’t move!” he chided. Then he crawled parallel along Rin’s body, pulling the other end of the tape across Rin’s chest and stomach and down past his pectoral and pelvic fins to the very tip of his upper caudal fin.

“Are you stretched out to your full length, Rin-san?”

“Yeah.” Rin replied, once again bored by Rei’s antics.

“Alright, I’m going to record your full height as two hundred and twenty centimetres. Of course, most of that is your tail. Alright, you can let go now, Rin-san.”

Rin let go of the tape, and Rei slowly allowed it to retract back into its casing.

“Is that an average length for a full-grown male mershark?” Rei asked as he sat back down on the blanket and placed the tape measure back in his bag.

“Yeah, I guess.” Rin sat up again and watched Rei write in his notebook. Rei noticed this after a moment.

“Rin-san, can you read?” he asked suddenly.

Rin recoiled and scoffed. “Of course! I’m not stupid!”

“I was just curious!” Rei defended. “Can most of you read?”

“Yeah. We can read and speak whatever language we learn.” Rin put his hand on Rei’s shoulder and leaned on him. “But when we’re underwater we mostly use hand signals to communicate.”

Rei was surprised. “Like sign language? We have that too; it’s for people who can’t hear.”

“So that’s how you talk to them?”

“Well, no.” Rei said quietly. “Most people don’t understand or use sign language.”

Rin raised an eyebrow. “Then what’s the point of having it?”

“Just for deaf people to communicate with each other.”

“How would you talk to them then?” Rin asked smugly, removing his hand from Rei’s shoulder and crossing his arms over his chest.

Rei was a little embarrassed. “I would just write down what I intended to say.”

“Doesn’t that take a long time?”

“Well, yes,” Rei sputtered and pushed up his glasses. “but learning a new language also takes a long time!”

Rin smirked. “I’m aware. I know three.”

Rei was taken aback by Rin’s statement, struck speechless for a moment. He stared Rin straight in the eyes and blinked a few times before replying.

“Really?!” he exclaimed. “Rin-san, that’s amazing! Which languages do you know?”

Rin counted on his fingers. “I know our merfolk ‘sign language’, as you call it; Japanese, because I’m able to communicate with you; and English.”

Rei sat intrigued. “Where did you learn English?”

“I spend a lot of time traveling between Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii. Even some South Pacific islands too.” He shrugged. “The merfolk in those parts speak a lot of English, and lesser-known native languages as well, but most of them speak perfect English.” Rin’s eyes scanned out over the waves; he was starting to feel rather hungry.

“And why did you travel so much, Rin-san?”

“Food.” Rin’s voice was deadpan as he looked out over the water, licking his lips.

Rei glanced up at him. “That’s all?” Noticing Rin’s hungry gaze, he laughed. “Or are you just feeling hungry right now?”

“Yes.” Rin turned to stare Rei in the eye, leaning slowly toward him.

Rei dug around in his bag for something to give Rin, but seeing as though he had eaten lunch at home, he had only brought some biscuits and an apple as a snack for himself.

“I’m sorry Rin-san, I don’t have anything that you would lik-” Rei’s words were cut off as Rin suddenly pushed him to the ground, trapping him underneath his upper body.

“Uhh, Rin-san?” Rei blushed up to his ears. “A-Are you feeling alright?”

Rin pushed his nose into Rei’s neck and inhaled deeply, savoring the delectable scent of his flesh. He licked a small stripe along Rei’s throat as Rei trembled underneath him, his eyes shut tightly and his body rigid.

_'Perhaps his judgement becomes clouded when he’s hungry? Note to self: If he doesn’t kill me today, always bring snacks for him.’_

Rin felt Rei’s terror and decided to give the boy a break, pulling away from Rei’s neck. He glanced down at him and smirked. “Rei, you have to stop taking my jokes about eating you so seriously.” he laughed.

Rei opened his eyes as his body relaxed. “Jokes?” he said, dumbfounded. He abruptly smacked Rin on the back of the head. “Rin-san, you shouldn’t joke about that! It’s terrifying! You’re a shark! What am I supposed to think?”

Rin retreated, allowing Rei to sit up as he rubbed at the area where he had been hit. “Rei, don’t you think if I’d really wanted to, I’d have eaten you by now? I mean, I’ve had plenty of chances.”

Blushing, Rei adjusted his glasses. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. I’m just not the best at catching jokes.”

“I noticed, but I seriously am really hungry.” Rin’s stomach growled loudly, making Rei chuckle.

“Like I said before, Rin-san, I don’t have anything that you would like.”

“I guess we’ll have to call it a day then.” Rin said as he began pulling himself toward the water, intent on finding something bloody to eat.

“I suppose that would be best; it is getting kind of late. We can continue tomorrow, and perhaps I’ll bring a snack for you so you don’t go hungry.”

Rin stopped just before the water line and looked back at him quickly. “You’d do that for me?”

“Of course! I’d like to ask you more questions than we got through today.” Rei placed his notebook and pen back into his bag. “We didn’t get as far as I’d hoped we would, plus if I have snacks for you, perhaps you’ll try to eat me less often.”

Rin laughed quietly. “Oh. Yeah, sure, you can bring me a snack if you want.” He turned back to the ocean. “It would save me having to hunt, at least.”

Rei watched Rin dragging himself gracelessly into the water and realized that he had never seen Rin swim. He had only seen Rin moving about on land where he was clumsy and uncomfortable at best. Rin finally submerged his tail in the water and relished the added mobility provided by the waves.

Rei stood and gathered his blanket, stuffing it haphazardly into his bag and tossing the bag aside. Afterwards, he moved toward Rin. “I will bring you something.” Rei smiled. “What do you like, Rin-san?”

“Uh, I like tuna.” he said.

“Alright, I’ll have some tomorrow.”

“Thanks Rei. See you then.” Rin flashed him a toothy grin that would have terrified him had he not known that Rin had no interest whatsoever in eating him.

Rei nodded. “Of course Rin-san!” He waved a hand. “Goodbye.”

Then Rin dove beneath the surface and disappeared.

Rei waited for a moment, staring at the waves softly lapping on the shore.

_'I need to see him swimming. I want to see him in his own element.’_

Rei imagined Rin’s powerful tail propelling him through the deep like a torpedo. He saw Rin coming upon prey and snatching it in his strong grip, muscular arms encircling it as his sharp teeth ripped it to shreds. Rei brought a hand to his cheek and found it warm to the touch. In fact, his whole body felt hot. He shook his head quickly and felt his forehead - also warm.

“Perhaps I’m getting a fever.”

He turned and trudged back up the beach, grabbing his bag from the ground and moving back toward where he had come though the bushes. After climbing back through, he made sure to brush the leaves from his hair as he left the beach and headed back to his apartment for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was on the train in Japan, I saw three older ladies using Japanese sign language. I watched them for a few moments, intrigued, and that’s what inspired me to make an allusion to that in this story. Sound obviously can’t travel underwater, so it would make sense for underwater creatures to use body or sign language. Despite this story containing merpeople, I want to keep it semi-realistic~ ;PPP


	5. Chapter 5

“And then he said he would bring me food!”

Sousuke glanced up from where he was resting his head on his arms and smirked. “You’ll need it, considering that you’re a shitty hunter.”

“Hey!” Rin snarled at his friend, then dove underwater.

“Oh great, he’s going to go sulk.” Sousuke groaned and began to back his giant form off the rock he was stretched over. “I guess I’ll have to apol- ow!” He felt a sharp pain on his right side near his tail fin. He drug his tail out of the water and saw a fresh bite mark on his flank, just on his white underbelly. Rin popped up out of the water, blood dripping from his mouth.

“I guess if I’m such a shitty hunter, you’re gonna have to let me take bites out of you sometimes.” Though Sousuke was more than double Rin’s size, measuring in at more than five metres, Rin challenged him whenever he desired.

“Rin, what the hell? That hurt.” He dipped his tail in the water to rinse off the blood trickling from the wound. “Great, now I’m going to have another scar from you.”

Truth be told, Sousuke had many scars from Rin biting him.

Rin rinsed his mouth out quickly. “Eh, add it to your collection.” he shrugged.

Sousuke may not have the same sharp teeth Rin had, but he still could have easily put Rin in his place had he ever decided to attack him back, but he never did. Rin’s antics were just something that Sousuke was used to.

“Sousuke!”

Makoto, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely.

Sousuke threw Rin a sly look, and Rin raised his hands from the water and began waving them frantically. Honestly, even though Rin had told Rei that Makoto was a huge softie, Rin was still a little wary of him. Makoto was much bigger than Rin, more than double his size(though not quite as big as Sousuke), and he was also half-orca - a predator of sharks.

Sousuke did not scare Rin. He seemed scary, but Rin knew that Sousuke would never hurt him. Sousuke was the real softie; he was just a whale shark. He didn’t even have sharp teeth.

But Makoto did.

“Sousuke, I finally found you. Oh, and Rin too!” He swam up close to the pair and smiled. “Did you find enough to eat, Sou?” He kissed Sousuke’s cheek.

“Yeah, but I’m glad you’re here because my tail just got bitten.” he scowled.

Makoto drew back and made a startled noise. “Eh? Really?!” He swam around to where Sousuke’s tail was submerged in the water, placing himself between Rin and Sousuke. “Let me see!”

Sousuke flipped his tail out of the water to show Makoto the still-bleeding bite mark. Over Makoto’s shoulder, Rin was giving Sousuke a dirty look.

“Don’t tell him it was me.” Rin mouthed.

“Sousuke, what happened? What bit you?” Makoto cried.

Sousuke debated briefly on whether or not to tell Makoto that Rin was the attacker, then he remembered that he was about to apologize to Rin when he was bitten.

So much for being nice.

“It was Rin.” he stated, calm and straight-to-the-point.

Makoto turned quickly, finding Rin submerged up to his eyes as if trying to hide.

“Rin, is that true?” Makoto asked.

Rin narrowed his eyes and looked down into the water in embarrassment. He nodded slowly.

Makoto sighed and shook his head. “Rin, I’m very disappointed. Why did you bite him?”

Rin perked up, shooting Sousuke a sinister look. “He was being rude to me!”

“Sousuke!” Makoto cried as he turned back to face Sousuke. “What were you doing?”

A small blush painted Sousuke’s cheeks. “I just said that he was a bad hunter.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Makoto shook his head. “What am I going to do with you two?”

“But it’s true, Makoto. You know it just as well as I do.” Sousuke replied.

“But we don’t say it.” Makoto whispered.

“Hey!”

—-

The next morning, Rei set off for the local market.

“Hm, I wonder which cut he would prefer.”

Rei stood examining the fresh cuts of tuna kept on ice. He thought about buying a frozen piece, but ultimately decided against it seeing how Rin would never eat frozen fish in the wild. It had to be fresh or nothing, and Rei had promised Rin tuna, so ‘nothing’ was out of the question.

What Rei didn’t realize was how expensive fresh tuna was, and he wasn’t about to just buy Rin a small piece. He wanted to get enough for a meal.

“Excuse me, sir?” Rei called.

The merchant, a spindly old fisherman, gave Rei his attention. “What do you need, young man?”

“I’d like a sizable portion of tuna.” He eyed the price. “The meat doesn’t have to be the best quality; I’ll just be using it for bait.”

The merchant picked up a large slab of tuna from behind the table. “I have this cut. The meat ain’t too good, but if you’re just fishing with it, it’ll be fine.” He glanced at the price. “I can give it to you for fifty percent of my normal price.”

Rei’s face lit up. “Thank you very much! I’ll take it!” He dug through his wallet and handed the man the money. The merchant wrapped the tuna in a sheet of brown paper, then placed it in a plastic bag for transport.

“What are you fishing for, son?” he asked as he handed Rei the bag.

“Oh, I’m a marine biologist, and I’m doing research on sharks, so I just need something to attract them.”

“I see! You need any chum? I got lots.”

Rei thought for a moment. Did Rin like the guts of the fish, or just the meat?

He shook his head. “Not today, but thank you for the offer. This should be fine for now, but I will definitely keep you in mind if I find that I need some.” Rei bowed his head to the man. “Thank you very much for the tuna, sir!”

“No problem, young man. Good luck with your research!” The man waved, and Rei turned to make his way out of the market, throwing a quick 'goodbye’ over his shoulder.

—-

Stepping off the sidewalk onto the beach, Rei hoped that Rin wouldn’t take too long to arrive because he knew that the longer the tuna was off ice, the faster it would go bad.

“I wonder if that even matters to him? Old meat is harmful to humans, but maybe his digestive system is used to it.” Rei filed that thought away with his other questions about merfolk biology that he hoped Rin could answer.

Rei found the spot in the bushes where he had passed through previously and marked the area with a small rock so it would be easier for him to notice in the future. Upon pushing through the brush, he was greeted once again by those hidden sands, serene and secret from the main beach. The area was a small slice of the world, meant only for Rin and Rei.

Rei suddenly knocked that thought from his head. Of course others came here, just very infrequently, as Rin had said. Rei set his blanket out on the sand and resigned himself to waiting for Rin to show up, but just as he sat down, he heard a voice calling to him. He glanced out to the open sea to find Rin swimming up to the beach quickly.

Rei shot up from the ground. “Rin-san, how lucky that we arrived here at the same time!”

Running a hand through his hair, Rin laughed nervously and responded, “Uh, yeah. I totally wasn’t waiting for you or anything.”

Rei jogged toward him as Rin reached the waterline. “You were waiting for me?” he asked.

“No, I said I wasn’t!”

Rei noticed the blush on his cheeks. “You were!”

“Okay, I was! I’m hungry!” he passed by Rei and began moving up the beach, eventually settling his tail on the blanket. Rei followed.

“Weren’t you able to catch something to eat last night?”

“Yeah, but I only found a few crabs.” Rin sighed. “Not really my usual diet, and not nearly enough for a good meal.” Rin sniffed the air a few times. “But you brought me tuna; I can smell it!” he exclaimed, baring his teeth in an excited smile.

Rei laughed quietly. “I did, Rin-san!” He pulled the bag closer to him and undid the ties holding it closed. Rin nearly melted into Rei’s lap at the smell rising from the meat. He was so hungry. Rei handed him the bag. “You have an amazing sense of smell, but that’s no surprise.”

Rin tore through the bag and dug his sharp teeth into the meat, ripping flesh off in big chunks and chewing them briefly before swallowing.

The fact that Rin had absolutely no table manners really shouldn’t have surprised Rei, yet he found himself staring unabashedly in horror. He had never seen another human tear into food so starved.

But he’s not a human. Rei had to remind himself. Mershark.

“Um, I’m glad you’re enjoying it?” Rei mumbled, unsure if Rin could even hear him in his frenzy.

“Yeah,” Rin said between bites. “s’ good.”

Rei sat waiting next to Rin, feeling awkward as he devoured the large slab of tuna. He found that even though he didn’t want to watch, he couldn’t help it. Rei was still curious about Rin’s eating habits, however disgusting and off-putting they were.

“Is this how you would eat in the wild?” Rei asked. He got no response from Rin as he continued to feed, all teeth and claws and chunks of fish flying everywhere. Rei figured he should wait to ask any questions until Rin was sated. He watched tentatively between looking down at the sand and out to sea, not wanting to gape like a fish like he had when he first met Rin.

When Rin finally popped the last piece of tuna into his mouth, Rei breathed a sigh of relief. He felt dizzy from darting his eyes every way but toward Rin, and now he could finally focus on the subject at hand.

“Did you happen to hear my previous question, Rin-san?”

Rin stretched out on his back, immensely satisfied by his meal. “Huh? You asked a question?”

Rei pushed his glasses up. “I’ll take that as a 'no’. I simply asked if that’s how you would feed in the wild.”

“Oh. It depends on the catch.” Rin closed his eyes, resting peacefully in the sun. “If it’s a bigger kill or I haven’t eaten well lately, yeah I’ll kinda go into beast mode, but if it’s smaller or I’m not as hungry, I’ll savour it. 'Cause I don’t know when I’ll get another one, you know?” Rin’s full belly made it easy for him to nearly fall asleep in the sun, contented and fully at ease. “Sometimes I go for days without food.” he mumbled.

“Really?” Rei pondered for a moment. “What’s the longest you’ve gone with out a meal?”

“Hm…” Rin scrunched up his face in thought. “Maybe… six or seven days? What about you?”

“How long have I gone without food?” Rei asked, glancing down at Rin sprawled out on the sand. Rin nodded, his eyes still closed.

“Probably not more than a day. Food is easy to come by here,” He paused. “in the human world.”

Rin opened his eyes in surprise. “Really? There’s a lot of creatures to catch?”

“Well, no. We just buy food when we need it.” Rei explained.

Rin sat up again. “Buy?”

“I give people money and they give me food.”

There was a sudden look of understanding on Rin’s face. “Ah, the barter system. I know about that, but what exactly is money?”

Rei reached into his bag and pulled out his wallet. “This is money.” The metal coins clinked in Rei’s palm as he showed them off to Rin.

“And this is worth food? They’re pretty small.” Rin seemed skeptical.

“Yes, it’s worth something small.” He dumped the coins into Rin’s hands for him to examine. “But if I wanted something better, I’d have to use this.” He removed a 1000 yen note from his wallet.

Rin’s expression grew even more confused. “Paper?" He dropped the coins to the ground and reached for the paper bill, snatching it from Rei’s fingers.

"Rin-san, be careful! I need that money for food!”

“But it’s only paper! Couldn’t you make more?” Rin tossed the bill behind him.

Rei scrambled for the bill before it flew away on the breeze. “No, I can’t make more because that would be against the law!” His fingers closed around it before it could get too far. “It’s called counterfeiting. I could go to jail!”

“Then how do you get it? Who made that one?” Rin pointed to the bill in Rei’s hand, then picked up the coins from the blanket. “And what about these?”

Rei sighed. “The Japanese government makes all the money. If anyone else makes it and the government finds out, that person could get into a lot of trouble.”

“But how did you get that one?”

“My parents gave it to me. They get this from doing work for someone.” Rei was having a difficult time using such simplistic ways of describing things. His mind wanted to use more thorough language, but Rin may not understand.

“All you need to know is that, for humans, this is worth a lot.” He deposited the bill back into his wallet. “Our society pretty much runs on it.”

Rin examined one of the coins closely. “I can see how these metal things are worth stuff; they’re cool.” He gathered the coins up and handed them back to Rei. “The paper, on the other hand - that’s just stupid.”

“Believe me, I’m aware, but this is how humans are.” Rei shrugged. “I can’t change it. You said you know about the barter system. What would you use to trade?”

“Remember I said that all I could find to eat was crabs?”

Rei nodded.

“If I hadn’t been so hungry, I would have tried trading them to some other merfolk who like crabs for some better food.” he explained. “Or I could have used this.” he gestured to the necklace of shells around his neck. “But I would never trade this.”

“Your necklace?” Rei eyed the trinket. “It’s very important to you, I assume?”

“Yeah, it was a gift.” He played with the shells of the necklace absent-mindedly.

There was a sudden understanding in Rei’s expression. “Ah, I understand. Gifts are hard to give up.”

Rin nodded, curling his tail around to stroke at Rei’s leg.

“Do merfolk often make jewellery out of shells?”

“Yeah, we like to make jewellery out of lots of things. Shells, crab claws, rocks…even bones. I’ve never made my own though; I’m not very good at it.” Rin said quietly. “I’m more of a salvager.”

“Salvager?” Rei asked. “Like you find items that people have lost?”

Rin nodded. “Yeah, humans are always losing things in the ocean. Merfolk love human stuff, but not a lot of them like to go looking for it. Takes them too far from home, you know?”

“I see. What are some things you’ve found, Rin-san?” Rei was definitely intrigued, but it didn’t surprise him that the things people lost in the ocean and items from shipwrecks were coveted by merfolk. Rei had seen 'The Little Mermaid’, but he never thought any of it would ring true.

“Oh, I’ve found everything you could imagine; jewellery, round dishes, fancy boxes and glass jars, lots of metal things, even some of those things you showed me earlier.”

“Money?”

“Yeah, but they looked a little different. They were bigger and made of gold.”

“Wow!” Rei exclaimed. “Where did you find that?”

Rin thought for a moment. “Hmm, I don’t quite remember. I think it was off the coast of the Philippines. I just remember grabbing as many of them as I could carry and bringing them back here to trade for food. God, that was years ago.”

“How old were you at the time?” Rei was amazed. He believed that Rin had accidentally stumbled upon a Spanish treasure. That was the most plausible outcome, given that he said it was around the Philippines.

“Hmm, maybe about fifteen?” Rin chuckled suddenly. “I ate pretty well until I exhausted my supply of those.”

“But not after?” Rei asked curiously.

Rin scratched at the back of his head, embarrassed. “Er, no.” he sniffed. “I, uhh, I’m not a very good hunter.” he said quietly.

“Really?” Rei’s face twisted in disbelief. “Rin-san, that’s kind of an important skill for your people.”

“Yeah, I know!” Rin screeched. “I practice all the time. I’m fast; I’m just not good at sneaking up on prey.”

“Maybe you need a new technique?” Rei offered. “Perhaps try chasing your prey until they tire out instead of ambushing it? If you’re as fast as you say, you should catch up quickly.”

“That takes up too much energy!” Rin crossed his arms in defence.

Rei put his hands on his hips. “Well sometimes you have to give a little to get a little, Rin-san!”

Rin turned away from him. “You don’t know anything about my lifestyle - about my society! Why should I take advice from you?!” he yelled.

“I’m just trying to help you! I’m smart and I know some things about the ocean, so my advice isn’t completely worthless!” Rei spat, crossing his arms over his chest as well.

Rin growled, uncrossing his arms and making his way back toward the water. Rei stood up to follow him.

“Rin-san, what are you doing?” Rei asked, surprised by Rin’s sudden flight from their conversation.

Rin didn’t turn back to look at him. “I’m done talking to you.” he said flatly. “Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.” He slipped into the water and disappeared.

Rei stopped suddenly in the shallow water, his shoes now soaked. He sighed deeply.

“Great, I try to help him become a better hunter and he takes off on me.” Rei glanced out over the water where he saw nothing but blue. He hoped dearly that Rin would return; there were plenty of questions Rei still wanted to ask and much more research to be done. He had barely scratched the surface with Rin, and he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to learn more about merfolk as a species. Rei walked back up the beach and collected his things in defeat.

“Rin-san is very hot-tempered, and his psyche seems delicate. I must remember to be careful about provoking him.” Rei cast his eyes downward into the sand and sighed. “If he comes back, that is.” Rei’s heart sank as he resigned himself to the fact that he may have just lost a once-in-a-lifetime research subject.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh :(((


	6. Chapter 6

Rin swam as fast and as far out as he dared to go. Slipping to the sea floor, he came to rest near an expansive reef, laying his belly down on the sand. He rested his chin in his palms and glared at anything that came within three metres of him.

_'Damn Rei, he doesn't know anything about how my life works. Did he ever stop to think that maybe this is how I like it? No. No one ever thinks that maybe I'm perfectly happy like this.'_

Rin closed his eyes and sneered.

 _'Everyone just makes fun of me for being a shitty hunter, but they don't ever think about the things that I'm good at!'_ Rin smashed his fist down into the sand, sending a cloud of sediment up into the current. Suddenly finding his gills full of sand, he darted away from the area to clear them, waving a hand in front of his face as he watched the sediment settle.

Just then, Rin felt a small tap on his shoulder. Startled, he spun around to find Haru staring back at him. 

'What do you want, Haru?' he signed.

'I saw you take off. You look upset.' Haru replied.

'It's none of your business!'

'Did you fight with the human?"

Rin couldn't move his hands. How did Haru know that? Had he been watching them?

'You did. You're so easy to read, Rin.'

Rin shook his head, a slight smile on his lips. 'Really Haru, how do you do that?' he signed.

'Unlike everyone else, I actually pay attention to my surroundings and other's emotions.' Haru signed back. 'You get emotional very quickly.'

Rin narrowed his eyes. 

'See, you're doing it already.' Haru smirked.

'Okay, if I get emotional so easily, then how did you know it was the fight with Rei that made me angry this time?'

'Well, he's all you've been talking about for the last week, so I kinda figured that only something like fighting with him would make you that upset.'

Rin slumped over and sunk a few metres to the bottom. He covered his face with his hands.

Haru watched Rin sink, defeated and angry, to the ocean floor. _'He really cares about this human...'_ he thought. Haru swam around to face him and tapped him on the shoulder once more.

When Rin looked up, Haru signed, 'Why? Why do you care so much about this human?'

'Leave me alone, Haru.' he signed harshly, his muscles tense.

Haru caught Rin's wrists and held him still as his stare cut into Rin, demanding the question be answered. 

Rin fought against Haru, pulling at his restraint and pumping his tail in the water in an attempt to retreat, but Haru proved stronger than Rin had thought. He held onto Rin tightly and began pulling him toward the surface where he could both keep him captive and speak.

 _'Damn, he's a much stronger swimmer than me!'_ Rin thought as he was dragged along. Haru seemed to pull him along effortlessly. The sun grew in size and warmth as they approached the surface, rays cutting through the tide like swords. 

Rin didn't want to be on the surface right now. The surface was Rei's world. He wanted to be in the murky depths with his own thoughts - away from everyone else while he stewed in his mirth.

But Haru had other plans. 

They erupted from the waves like bullets, both pulling a gasp of sea air into their human lungs. Rin continued to fight against Haru's iron grip.

"God dammit Haru, just leave me alone!" he roared, his teeth bared in aggression.

They tussled for a moment, splashing rings around themselves until Haru spoke. "Rin, if you won't tell why you're so into this human, at least tell me what you fought about!"

Rin froze, feeling his blood pounding through his ears. "He tried to change me." Rin spat.

Haru kept a tight grip on Rin's wrists, but his expression shifted into that complacent, bored look he was known for. "If this outburst is anything to go by, I think maybe you could use a little change."

Rin snarled at Haru and contemplated biting the boy's hands off to get free.

"Remember what I said about how you get really angry really fast?" Haru asked.

There was no answer from Rin, just a seedy glare.

"I don't think you fought with him." Haru stated. "I think you think you fought with him, but in actuality, he said something you didn't like, and you got really angry and swam off."

Rin's eyes shot wide open. Damn, Haru was good.

"He was trying to make me change how I hunt." Rin scoffed. "Like I need him to teach me? I've been doing this my whole life!" he yelled.

"And are you any good at it?" Haru's question hung in the air.

"I-I know what I'm doing, Haru." he stuttered.

Haru finally let go of Rin's wrists. "But are you any good at it?"

"Haru!"

"It wouldn't hurt to give whatever he suggested a try." Haru shrugged. "I mean, he doesn't seem very articulated, but he looks smart, even if he was doing that weird laugh the other day."

Rin's eyebrow rose in curiosity. "What do you mean 'he doesn't seem very articulated'?" Rin's eyes grew wide in shock. "You didn't talk to him, did you!?"

Haru nodded once. "I talked to him yesterday."

"What?! What did you tell him about me?" Rin screeched.

A small smirk settled upon Haru's lips. "Jeez Rin, not everything is about you."

"Then what did you talk about?!" 

Haru turned away. "Rin, you have no manners. Our conversation was private."

Rin growled and flashed his pointed teeth in aggression, but he knew Haru wouldn't be intimidated. "Fine. I don't care what you said to him because I'm going to deny everything the next time I see him."

Haru waved his hand through the air. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Then he closed his eyes and dove underneath the waves, satisfied that Rin had taken his bait. As annoying as Rin could be, Haru really didn't like to see him upset. Haru knew that he just had trouble keeping his temper under control; he hoped Rin would work on it, or maybe that the human could help him.

"God, why does Haru always have to get into my business?" Rin scoffed. "I hope he didn't say anything weird to Rei. Now I have to do damage control." Rin scratched at the back of his head. 

_'Maybe what Haru said was right. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to write off Rei's suggestions.'_ he thought. _'I'll try it a few times and see how it works.'_

He looked back toward land, but it stood far out near the horizon; Rin had swam very far in his haste to escape their conversation. A sudden panic filled his chest. He felt incredibly exposed floating on the surface and quickly dove into the shelter of the deep, where he had a perfect view of all angles around him and could spot anything approaching. He dove all the way to the bottom and swam along the sea floor back to the shallows, giving him one less angle to worry about. 

His anxiety didn't subside until he was nestled in the sand of the bay, and the water was no more than ten metres deep at any given spot. He surfaced and glanced around the beach.

"Hm, this spot is different from where I met Rei, but it's really beautiful. I should remember it and bring him here." Rin filed away the knowledge of the bay in some far corner of his mind, to be brought out again when the time was right.

Rin relaxed on the bottom of the bay for the rest of the evening, watching fish skirt by and seaweed sway in the current. He didn't feel hungry thanks to the tuna Rei had brought him, but he did think about which fish he should try to catch once his stomach did start to growl. In the bay, there were mostly small, colourful fish, and they were barely a snack for Rin - he could eat them like cookies. Unfortunately, those little fish were also fast and hard to catch, so unless he had a net, they really weren't worth the effort. 

'Looks like I'll have to venture out to find a good meal, but I'll worry about that later.' he thought, relaxing back into the warmth of the sand along the bottom of the bay, feeling perfectly content and safe.

\------------

Rei rested back on his bed, contemplating the previous day. 

Why had Rin gotten so mad at his suggestion of a new hunting method? 

"Perhaps his reputation and ego are quite fragile." Rei noted quietly. "I'll take care to be more sensitive if he returns." 

His pristine silence was suddenly broken by the fierce vibrations of his phone on the side table. The sound startled him from his thoughts. He clicked the screen on and saw a message from Nagisa.

'rei-chan lets hang out!' 

Rei quickly tapped out his message.

'Sorry Nagisa-kun, I'm not really feeling up to it."

Nagisa's reply came almost instantly.

'ehhhh why not rei-chan?"

Rei panicked. He now needed to think of a lie to tell to keep Nagisa away. He could say he was ill, but Nagisa would more than likely come over anyway in some misguided but noble attempt to nurse him back to health, and Rei would be caught in his lie. Homework and readings for class were also out of the question, seeing as it was summer break. Rei also didn't want to hurt Nagisa's feelings by saying that he would just rather be alone, because the concept of solitude was completely foreign to the boy, and he couldn't, for the life of him, imagine why anyone would rather spend time alone than with friends. Therefore, Rei never tried that excuse, knowing that Nagisa would only think that he was mad at him.

Unable to think of a decent excuse quickly, Rei switched his trajectory.

'Actually, I will spend the day with you, Nagisa-kun.'

Perhaps it would be good for him to get his mind off Rin for a day. Soon, his phone vibrated again.

'yayyy! lets go for lunch!

'Alright, as long as we don't go to Saizeriya."

'awww!'

\-----

Rei met Nagisa at the fast food restaurant up the road about a half-hour later. It seemed to be just after the lunch rush, and there were only a few other patrons in the lobby.

Nagisa bounced up to the cashier at the till and told him his rather-extensive order, but still managed to spend just under 1500 yen. Rei ordered only a burger, even though they were very unhealthy, but he didn't want Nagisa to eat alone.

Upon receiving their food, they took a seat at one of the empty tables, and Nagisa dug in right away. The boy stuffed french fries in his mouth like a ravenous beast, and Rei was suddenly reminded of Rin. 

It seemed like everything was reminding him of Rin these days.

He unwrapped his burger and took a small bite, cringing at the oily taste. He promptly put it back down onto the wrapper.

Nagisa looked up at him. "Are you not going to eat, Rei-chan?"

"I'll keep working on it. Don't worry about me."

Nagisa laughed out loud at him. "You don't have to eat it! Honestly, I was surprised you even bought one in the first place! I know you hate fast food."

Rei sighed. "I know. I just didn't want you to feel left out."

"Me? Feel left out?" Nagisa laughed. "It seems like you're the one who doesn't want to feel left out! You don't have to change for me, Rei-chan! Even though we're so different, we can still be friends! Just don't try to make me eat healthy food!" he laughed.

Rei blinked in amazement. How could he have been so blind and narrow-minded? 

"You're absolutely right, Nagisa-kun." Rei pushed up his glasses. "Even if we have entirely different ways of thinking, we get along well, and neither of us would ever try to change the other, right?"

"Right!" 

"We have individual habits and things that work for us, right?" 

"Right!"

Rei smiled and relaxed back into the seat. "Thank you, Nagisa-kun. This lunch has been very enjoyable." He pushed the burger across the table. "You can have this if you'd like."

Nagisa's eyes grew wide as a delighted expression blossomed on this face. "Really?!" 

Rei nodded. "Of course. You know how much I dislike them."

Rei sat through the rest of their outing in relative silence as Nagisa ate the rest of his meal and Rei's donated burger as well.

\------

The next day, Rei returned to the beach, hoping Rin would show up so he could apologize for his narrow-minded thinking. If Rin preferred to trade items for food, then what right did Rei have to try to change that?

To Rei's surprise, when he slipped through the bushes onto the secluded beach, Rin was already there waiting for him, resting just at the edge of the beach while soft waves lapped at his fins. Rin's gaze was fixed on him.

"Rin-san?" Rei said, disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Yeah, I came back." Rin mumbled, pulling himself up the beach. "Listen, Rei, I-"

"I'm sorry!" Rei interrupted, bowing deeply to Rin. "I should never have tried to change you, Rin-san. We're different, and we know what's best for ourselves. My interference won't happen again. I truly am sorry." 

Rei stood, and Rin was left staring. He wasn't expecting Rei to apologize as well.

"Also, your statement the other day was true, I know next to nothing about your world and society, but if you are willing, I'd like to learn. Please teach me, Rin-san."

Rin finally found his nerve after Rei's sincere apology. He patted the sand next to him, gesturing for Rei to sit. The boy scrambled to sit next to Rin. 

Rin inhaled a deep breath. "Rei... I-I'm sorry as well. I over-reacted. I, uh... I kinda have a short fuse. Haru nags me for it all the time." He rubbed the back of his neck and curled his tail around himself, hiding his face behind his tail fin in embarrassment.

Suddenly, he remembered what Haru said. Haru had spoken to Rei. He snatched Rei's wrist in his grip, startling him.

"Rei, you talked to Haru?"

Rei blinked in surprise. "I did?"

Rin made a small, confused noise. "You didn't? He's got black hair and blue eyes. Seems socially-awkward?" 

Rei thought back over the past few days, and the memory of Haru's judgmental eyes peering at him from the waves hit him like a shot. "Ah, yes! I remember!"

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I didn't know he was your friend!" Rei shouted.

"What? How could you not know? He's a fucking mermaid!" Rin was seriously starting to doubt Rei's intelligence.

Rei wrenched out of Rin's clutches and rubbed at his wrist. "I didn't see his tail! He only had his head above the water." 

"Oh, okay, I see." Rin laughed and laid down next to Rei on the sand. "You know, I was starting to think you maybe weren't as smart as you say."

Rei screeched, scandalized by Rin's words. "What?! I had top marks when I graduated high school! I was the best in my year!"

"Calm down, Rei." Rin snickered. "Jeez, you can get pretty defensive, can't you?"

Rei sighed and relaxed his body, lying back on the sand next to Rin. "Well, when someone insults my intelligence, I feel I should defend myself. Wouldn't you do the same?"

Rin glanced over at the human lying next to him. Rei was carelessly watching the clouds roll across the endless blue sky. Rin tapped his fin into Rei's foot.

Rei turned his head to find crimson eyes fixed on him. Rin wouldn't fool him with his fake hunger frenzy this time; Rei was not an idiot.

"I'm not falling for that this time, Rin-san. You won't eat me." he said.

"I'm not hungry, Rei. I just wanted to tell you, um..." Rin trailed off.

"What?" Rei asked quietly, turning his body toward Rin.

"I, uh, may have tried your suggestion... regarding hunting." Rin ran a hand through his hair nervously.

Rei's mouth turned up in a small smile. Rin had actually listened to him, and he was excited to hear how it had gone. "And?"

Rin took a deep breath to steady himself. "It was hard. Fish are fast."

"But you're faster?" 

There was a hopeful tone to Rei's voice that Rin did not overlook. "Yeah, I am." he said, a grin breaking over his face.

"Congratulations Rin-san!" Rei exclaimed. "But you don't have to do it if you find the reward isn't worth the effort."

"No, I'll keep trying. I'll get better with practice, right?"

Rei smiled warmly. "Right."

Rin's expression grew soft as he lay next to Rei on the beach, the sun warming their skin. Peace seemed to permeate over the sands in this place, and Rin felt that there was nothing in the world that needed his attention except this moment. 

Moving closer, Rin brought his face within centimetres of Rei's, so close that he could feel his breath on his lips. He reached one hand up, almost resting it on Rei's cheek. 

"Rin-san?" Rei mumbled in confusion.

Rin stopped, suddenly realizing what he was doing. Embarrassed, he quickly plucked Rei's glasses off his nose. 

"What are these, anyway?" 

"Rin-san, I need those!" Rei reached for them, but Rin held them up and away from his grasp.

"I've been wondering since we met. What are they for?" He set them upon his nose. "Holy shit."

"Rin-san, please!" Rei sat up and grabbed for his glasses, but Rin knocked his hand away. They grappled for a few seconds until Rei managed take hold of the situation, rolling over onto Rin, pinning him against the sand with his body and holding his wrists.

Rin was breathing hard and on the verge of laughter until he realized that Rei was right on top of him. He blushed and threw Rei off of him, leaving the glasses on the ground next to him as he slipped back into the water.

Rei watched Rin retreat, confusion overtaking him once again. 

_"What did I do wrong this time?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kinda bleh im sorry


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I HATE MYSELF WORKING TWO JOBS REALLY SUCKS

Rin didn't return to the beach for two days out of embarrassment, and even then, it was only after intense prodding from Haru and some gentle persuasion from Makoto.

"So how'd it go, Rin?" Haru had asked.

"None of your business."

Haru smirked. "You fucked up, didn't you?"

"Shut up!"

"You're in love with a human."

"I'm not in love with him!" Rin shrieked. "I just think he's cute."

"Then tell him, Rin." Makoto said.

Rin's expression turned agitated. "I can't just tell him! He wouldn't like me like that."

"Are you scared because he's human?" Makoto asked.

Rin turned his eyes downwards as he wrung his hands. "No."

Haru called him out. "You are."

"Okay, so I am!" Rin spat. "But can you blame me?"

"I know it's hard, Rin." Makoto wanted to tell Rin to forget this whole thing - forget the human entirely - but he knew Rin wouldn't back down. Unfortunately for Rin, relationships with humans were almost unheard of, and only a minuscule fraction ever worked out.

He wanted Rin to be happy.

"I think you should tell him anyway. Sometimes it works out, why not try?" Makoto smiled.

Rin shrugged. "Maybe..."

"Look at me and Sousuke. We're different, but we make it work." 

"You two aren't that different, just your subspecies." Rin noted. "Rei is human; I'm not."

"To be fair, we're sorta human." Haru chided.

"Shut up, Haru!"

\------

"God Rin, just stop sulking and tell the human." Sousuke groaned, stretching out over the rocks. "You're getting really annoying."

"Do you want me to bite you again?" 

\------

Rin arrived on the beach just after breakfast and settled in to wait for a few hours. He hovered just off shore, his mind buzzing with thoughts.

'I'm gonna tell him today.' he thought. 'It'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?' 

His heart started to beat hard as he thought about all the things that could go wrong. Rei could laugh at him and be disgusted and never come back and tell the town about the merpeople living in the waters just off shore.

He took a deep breath. 'No, Rei wouldn't do that.' he thought.

Well, Rin had only known him for a few weeks; he might do that. 

'No.' He shoved that thought from his mind. Rei wouldn't do that. 

Rin tried to calm himself while he waited for Rei to arrive. After another hour, he saw the boy walking up the street toward the beach. He watched as Rei manoeuvred through the hole in the bushes and plucked the leaves from his hair.

Swimming up to the beach, he called out to Rei.

"Rei!"

Rei looked up. "Rin-san!" He walked down the beach to meet Rin at the water's edge. "I'm sorry if I did something to offend you the other day."

Rin blinked. Why the hell was he apologizing? Rin was the one who had freaked out because Rei had been lying on top of him, and honestly, the only reason Rei had gotten the upper hand between them that day was because they had been on land. Rin's tail was much too heavy to move around easily out of the water. 

And maybe he had been a little flustered at seeing Rei's hair all messed up and his cheeks flushed pink with exertion as he tried to reclaim his glasses.

Well, maybe flustered was the wrong word.

Turned on was closer to the truth, and Rin didn't want to introduce Rei to that part of his anatomy quite yet, though he probably wouldn't even flinch as he asked question after question about merperson reproduction and mating habits.

"It's alright, Rei." he said, running his fingers through his short ponytail. "I was, uh, just having a bad day. Nothing to worry about."

"Ah, I see. Well, I sincerely hope you're feeling better today." Rei smiled.

Rin couldn't help grinning at Rei's bright smile. "I am!"

"Good! I'm glad!" Rei removed his backpack and pulled out the blanket they had been sitting on everyday, setting it out flat on the sand.

"Rei, why don't you just leave that here? Then you wouldn't have to carry it back and forth every day."

Rei blanched as he seated himself. "Absolutely not! Do you know how much bacteria is on this blanket when I leave here at the end of the day?" He suddenly cringed, his body seeming to shake from head to toe. "I mean, it's been sitting on the ground all day by the time I leave here! I wash this blanket every night."

"Ooh, Rei, you better not touch me! I have bacteria all over me!" Rin taunted, menacingly advancing toward Rei with a devious glint in his eye.

"You do, Rin-san." he said calmly. "Though I assume you keep yourself clean enough to not be a problem. You are aware of personal hygiene, right?"

"Uh, I'm swimming in water, like, 24/7, Rei. Of course I'm clean." 

Rei shook his head. "Rin-san, sea water is very dirty. There are all kinds of microorganisms and waste products in it."

Rin started to laugh. "Haru was right! You're so weird!"

Rei scowled, but ultimately decided to ignore Rin's comment about him being weird and instead adopted a thoughtful expression. "Ah, your friend Haru, I'd like to ask you some questions about him, if that's alright with you."

"Hm? Why do you want to know about Haru?" Rin inquired. "He's not really that interesting."

"But he is part of your species, correct?" Rei took a notebook from his backpack. "Learning more about him could help me learn more about you." he smiled.

Rin felt his heartbeat flutter. 'Damn it, there he goes again with that smile.' he thought. 'Why is he so cute?' 

"Er, are you okay, Rin-san?" Rei asked, noting the blush on his cheeks.

Rin was staring. He shook his head, snapping himself out of the trance. "Ah, yes! I'm fine! Ask me whatever you want; I'll try to answer it."

"Great! So, you said Haru is a mermaid, er... merman, yes?" he asked. 

Rin nodded. 

"So his subspecies of merperson is some kind of fish? Do you know which kind of fish he is?"

"I have no idea. His tail is bright blue; maybe he's, like, some kind of tropical fish?" Rin offered.

"Okay..." Rei scowled, unimpressed by Rin's lack of knowledge. "How old is Haru?" 

"He's my age."

"Have you known each other long?"

Rin scoffed, running a hand across his tail to brush some sand off. "Too long. I've known Haru all my life."

"Fascinating!" Rei jotted down some notes. "And is it usual for sharks and fish to be friends?"

"No, not really." Rin said quietly. "We usually stick to our own kind."

Rei glanced over at Rin; he was fiddling with his hands. "Do you remember how you met him?"

"No." Rin said suddenly. "I... I just remember that he was always there." he stuttered.

"I see." Rei decided to change the subject slightly, as he could see Rin was becoming uneasy. "What is Haru's height, Rin-san?"

"Uh, about the same as me, I guess."

"Ah, interesting." Rei wrote down a point in his book, then turned back to Rin. "I remember you mentioning an orca before. What was his name again? Minako?"

"Makoto."

"Ah yes, forgive me."

Rin smiled. "It's alright, Rei. Makoto wouldn't mind."

Rei returned his smile. "And Makoto, he is an orca. Is he much bigger than you?"

"Oh yeah, way bigger!" Rin threw his arms up in the air. "He's almost five metres!"

"Wow! That's amazing, Rin-san!" Rei exclaimed. "Do you find it difficult to be around him because of his size? Or perhaps it's a little frightening because he's an orca?" Rei asked. "They are predatory toward sharks usually."

The question hung in the air. Rin hated it, but he was a little frightened of Makoto. Logic said that there was nothing to fear, but instincts ruled when he saw that black and white tail. 

"No way. Makoto is the nicest guy I've ever met. He would never hurt me." he said, more to himself than Rei, and he found himself believing it. Makoto was always a caring friend, and he always offered food whenever Rin was having trouble catching any. 

"Makoto is one of my closest friends, after Haru and Sousuke, of course." 

"Sousuke?" Rei asked.

Rin looked out over the water, his expression soft. "Sousuke is my best friend. I've known him almost as long as Haru." He smiled gently. "I don't know what I would do without him."

"He's a shark too?"

Rin excitedly slapped his tail down onto the sand. "Yep, he's a whale shark. He's even bigger than Makoto." he grinned, teeth flashing.

Rei's eyes went wide. "Rin-san, are you serious? How much bigger is he?"

"He's definitely more than five metres long." 

"How are you able to be such good friends with such a large creature?" 

Rin shrugged. "I don't know. We're really different, but it works."

Rei thought about himself and Nagisa and what Nagisa had said that day.

'Even though we're so different we can still be friends, right?'

"Right." Rei said quietly, returning to the present. 

Rin truly was fascinating. 

Rei smiled and hung his head, sighing gently. "Rin-san, you surprise me every day." He turned his head toward Rin. "You are supremely interesting."

The soft tone of Rei's voice had Rin feeling like there was seaweed tangling around his throat. His brain screamed 'Tell him! Tell him!', but he was speechless and could barely breathe.

After a quick moment, Rei looked away and out over the waves, and Rin felt the noose loosen. He sucked in a quick breath.

"Rei, I-"

Rei turned back to him. "Hm? What was that?"

'Tell him!'

"I - I really like you, Rei." he stuttered.

Rei stared for a moment, then chuckled quietly. "I like you too, Rin-san! Like I said, you are supremely interesting."

'Crap! Abort mission!' Rin's mind screamed. He laughed weakly and scratched at his cheek, digging through a bit of sand with his tail fin. "Thanks Rei."

Rin desperately wanted to change the subject. He asked Rei the first thing that came to his mind. 

"What are your friends like, Rei?"

"My friends?" Rei blushed a little. "Well, I mostly just have Nagisa-kun, and he can be quite a handful." 

"He's hard to get along with?"

"No, not at all. He's just very exuberant, and he eats quite a lot." Rei said.

"Like me!" Rin laughed. "Well, I would eat more if I could catch more." he remarked.

Now it was Rei's turn to laugh, and the sound made Rin laugh right alongside him. 

"You know Rin-san, over the last few weeks, I have noticed similarities between you and Nagisa-kun." 

Flushing, Rin pressed on. "You have? Could you tell me more about 'Nagisa-kun'?" 

"Sure. Well, he's quite short, only 165 cm, and he has golden blonde hair. He mostly eats food that is incredibly unhealthy and fattening, but he never seems to gain any weight." Rei's voice conveyed awe. "I really don't know how he does it."

Rin listened intently, nodding his head when he felt it was appropriate. 

"Nagisa-kun and myself are actually very different, but I've recently come to realize that our differences don't matter all that much because we get along very well. He's a great friend." 

Rin couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness at Rei's sincere anecdote about his close friend. He wanted to be as close to Rei as this 'Nagisa-kun' was.

"Maybe you can meet him one day!" Rei offered, laying his hand over Rin's forearm.

"Th-that would be nice." Rin replied weakly. He was incredibly happy that Rei might introduce him to 'Nagisa-kun', but he almost couldn't think straight with Rei's fingers touching his skin. 

"You should meet my friends!" he blurted out without thinking.

Rei's eyes went wide with excitement. "Rin-san, I would love that! It would be an amazing opportunity for a more in-depth study of merfolk!" Rei flushed slightly, embarrassed by his sudden outburst. "And of course, I'd love to meet your friends..." he added.

God, Rei's blushing face was so cute.

Now trying to convince his friends to actually agree to meet Rei would definitely be more difficult than stupidly blurting out the suggestion. He could probably convince Haru pretty easily, considering Haru had already met Rei, but Sousuke and Makoto would be harder.

'Maybe I should try to tell him again.' Rin thought. 'His blush is just too cute.'

"Rei, about earlier..." he started. "When I said I liked you..."

A flash of surprise was visible on Rei's face for only a second, then he resumed his simple curiosity. "What about it, Rin-san?"

Rin shifted his eyes tentatively toward Rei to judge his reactions. "I meant that I liked you a lot. Like... I _really_ like you."

Rei lifted an eyebrow. "Rin-san, that's exactly what you said bef-"

"I think you're hot, Rei!" 

God, the boy was dense.

Rei froze in mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open in shock. Rin was reminded of the day that he first met Rei; his expression was exactly the same.

Rin watched the colour drain from Rei's face. He whistled and snapped his fingers in front of Rei's eyes. "You okay?" 

There was no response, but Rei's eyes began to dart back and forth in every direction, not knowing where to come to rest. 

Rin liked him like that?! What was Rei supposed to say? Frantically, he racked his brain for some kind of response to Rin's confession, but he grew more panicked with each passing second. He suddenly shot up from his place on the blanket and snatched his backpack off the ground.

"R-Rin-san, I-I'm sorry, b-but I have to go!" He turned abruptly and sprinted off up the beach away from his embarrassment as fast as his feet would carry him through the sand. He vaguely heard Rin calling out to him, but he didn't stop running. He crashed through the bushes and soon reached the road - only then did he slow to a jog to catch his breath and collect his thoughts.

No matter how long Rei had tried to deny it, he felt the same about Rin. He was very attractive. 'This is wrong; these feelings are wrong.' he thought. 'We're different species. It's unnatural.' He stopped running in the middle of a park and looked around at the scenery, breathing hard. There were multiple people in the park at this hour, all enjoying the summer sunshine, collectively unaware of the creatures that they shared the sea with. 

Then Rei noticed a familiar head of golden hair and hastily dove behind a tree. If Nagisa caught sight of him, he would have some major explaining to do. The boy was more perceptive than he let on. He seemed to be with some of his other university friends, so he wasn't paying attention to the rest of the people in the park, Rei included.

Rei slumped down against the trunk of the tree and held his head in his hands. What the hell had he gotten himself into with Rin? He wanted to run away from the ocean and forget about this whole thing, but he did really care about Rin and, at the same time, he wanted to go back. 

Rei glanced around the tree at Nagisa again; he was doing his penguin impression for his friends while they all laughed. Rei wished he could be carefree like that. He sighed.

"What am I going to do?" He said to himself, removing his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. His gaze came to rest upon his glasses in his hand, remembering Rin wearing them a few days before. He flushed again at the thought. 

The shade of his glasses went well with Rin's colouring, matching his red hair and eyes. 

'God, what am I doing? Rin-san is not someone who I should be thinking about like that!' he thought, but he couldn't stop himself; he couldn't stop those pervasive feelings from taking root in his chest. 

He looked up at the sky, seeing the clouds roll by slowly, calming in their serenity. He took a long, steady breath.

'I'll just tell Rin-san that there can be nothing between us. He knows and understands that we're different species.' Rei told himself this, but surprisingly found himself disappointed, which was absolutely crazy because Rin was not human and Rei could never pursue a legitimate relationship with him.

'He's sort of human." Rei thought, but he suddenly slapped himself in the face. "No! Rin-san is half-shark!" he cried, quieting once he realized he was speaking out loud. He was sure his existential crisis would draw unwanted attention from other patrons of the park if he got too loud.

He whispered to himself, "I'm just going to tell him that nothing can happen between us. Simple as that."

He stood from his spot behind the tree and glanced around to make sure Nagisa was still preoccupied before slipping away back toward the beach. He wasn't sure if Rin would still be there, but he wanted to go back anyway; his flight from their conversation had been cowardly at best.

He soon arrived and pushed through the brush onto the secluded area of the beach.

As he suspected, Rin was gone, but upon his arrival back, Rei realized that he had forgotten the blanket and his notebook and pen in his haste to run. He snatched them up quickly, immensely relieved that he had decided to return, because they surely would have been ruined once the tide had come in.

Seeing that Rin was nowhere to be found, Rei decided to head home for the night, enjoying a quiet, but troubled, walk in the afternoon air. When he arrived home, he changed out of his dirty clothes and threw both them and the blanket in the wash. Then he went over the notes he had taken that day. 

Along the bottom of the last page of notes, he noticed some handwriting that was definitely not his own. The script was poorly executed and the characters were almost unrecognizable. 

They read, "I'm sorry, Rei."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha this took so long i hate myself

Rei felt absolutely awful. Rin had only been trying to portray his feelings, and Rei had completely freaked out. At first, he was sure that Rin would never return to the beach for him, but after he saw that hastily-written apology in his notebook, he felt hopeful.

How could he have been so stupid and closed-minded? It had probably taken Rin a lot of courage to admit that to him.

Rei was a smart guy, but he had little in the way of people skills.

Or merpeople skills.

All he could do was wait.

\-------

Rin erupted up out of the water just in front of where Makoto and Haruka were sunning. 

"I fucked up!" he cried, out of breath and almost hysterical.

"Of course you did." 

"Haru!" Makoto chided at his friend before turning back to Rin. "Take a deep breath, Rin. What happened?"

Rin breathed deeply a few times through his nose before answering. Unfortunately, it did almost nothing to calm him, but he pressed on anyway. "Okay, I told him I liked him, and it was hard, believe me. He's so dense." Rin was talking very quickly. "Then when he finally understood, he got this weird look on his face. It was the same look he had when I first showed him my tail, and then he freaked out and ran off!"

"Okay Rin, just calm down. I'm sure that it's quite a shock for him to have you tell him that you like him as more than a friend. He's a human, you're not."

"What if I never see him again?" Rin's voice was small and broken.

Makoto smiled warmly. "I'm sure you will." His tone left no room for doubt.

Rin nodded and wiped the excess seawater from his face.

"Don't you think he'll see the human again, Haru?" Makoto looked around, but Haru had disappeared. 

"Oh, Haru! Stop doing that!"

\--------

Rei spent the next day mentally beating himself up over how much of a freak he had acted like. It had taken so much courage for Rin to admit his feelings, and Rei had run off like a scared child.

It was Rei's turn to be courageous.

He returned to the beach two days after the incident and stopped just before the bushes. He eyed the spot he had climbed through so many times and swallowed the reservation he felt. He took a deep breath and ventured on.

'First of all, I'm going to apologize,' he thought, pushing through the leaves, 'Rin-san deserves it. As soon as I see him, I need to sink into the lowest bow I can manage and grovel.' He steeled himself as he emerged on the far side, stooping down into a preemptive bow.

"Rin-san, please forgive me!" he called over the beach.

There was no answer, only the softly-lapping waves. He lifted his gaze; the beach was empty.

He laughed nervously, closing his eyes and strolling down toward the water. "Of course he wouldn't be here now. How stupid am I? I shouldn't have expected him to be here at this very moment."

"Excuse me."

Rei screeched, partially from fright, partially because someone had heard him talking to himself. What were they going to think of him?

"You're Rin's human, right?"

Rei snapped his gaze toward the voice and found a dark-haired boy in the water - Rin's friend, Haru.

"Um, I suppose I am. You're his friend, Haru, correct?"

Haru nodded, but said nothing.

"Nice to meet you, Haru-san! My name is Ryuugazaki Rei." Rei held out his hand as though for a handshake, but lowered it as he noticed Haru staring at him in confusion. "My apologies. Your species doesn't shake hands, of course."

Haru narrowed his eyes. "Yeah," he said, "Listen, I need to talk to you."

Rei's face absolutely lit up with excitement. "Of course!" He hastily removed his backpack and pulled out his notebook. "I would also like to ask you some questions if you don't mind, Haru-san."

"As long as you don't call me that. Just Haru is fine."

"Er, alright, Haru..." The name felt wrong on his tongue sans the honorific, but Rei wanted Rin's friends to like him.

"What do you want to know?" Haru asked bluntly.

"You're letting me ask first?" Rei balked, and Haru's blank expression was comical next to Rei's flustered movements as he opened his notebook to a fresh page. "Okay, uh... y-you're a mermaid- er, man, right?"

Haru lifted a single eyebrow. "I think that much is obvious."

Rei felt an embarrassed flush creep all the way up to his ears. "Of course..." He cleared his throat and asked a different question. "Could you come a little closer to me, Haru? I'd like to examine your tail, if you don't mind."

Haru nodded and moved closer to the shoreline, allowing his brilliant azure tail to sparkle under the shallow water. Rivulets of salty spray ran down his human skin as Rei approached to look. Haru was careful to not to fully leave the caress of the waves.

"Haru, could you come just a bit closer?"

Haru simply shook his head, leaving Rei to frown in disappointment.

"Why not? Rin-san comes right up on the beach for me..."

"Rin is an idiot, which, coincidentally, is what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Rin-san?" Rei asked, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. "His intelligence seemed sufficient to me."

"Don't let his charm fool you; he can be incredibly dense, and he says some pretty amazing things." Haru smirked at the idiocy of his friend. "Just give him time, Rei."

'Why is he telling me this?' Rei thought.

"Anyway, if you want to look at my tail, you'll have to come into the water," Haru said bluntly. Rei nodded and quickly slipped off his shoes and socks. He had grown so accustomed to Rin coming out of the water for him that he didn't think to wear his normal beach shoes anymore. He rolled up his pant legs to mid-calf and stepped into the shallows, feeling the fine sand distort under him and cushion the soles of his feet. He bent down into a squat and readjusted his glasses for a clearer image. The scales on Haru's tail glittered under the water, the sun warbling the image so it seemed like Haru was moving, even though he was perfectly still. Haru had no fear of humans, it seemed.

"Can I touch your scales, Haru?" he asked softly. 

Haru tensed at that, throwing Rei a cautious glance. His cheeks held a slight tinge of pink, but Rei didn't notice; his attention was fixed on Haru's tail.

"A little," Haru murmured.

Rei slowly dipped his hand underneath the surface of the sea, gently running his trembling fingers over the fleshy scales. They had a quality about them that was noticeably different from ordinary fish scales, but Rei could not describe the feeling.

"Fascinating," he breathed.

Suddenly, Haru shifted under the water, slipping out from underneath Rei's touch. 

"I said 'a little'," Haru scolded.

"Sorry, Haru, but you are a very interesting specimen. I would love to ask you more questions, if you are willing," Rei said, pulling his hand from the water and shaking off a few excess drops.

"One more," Haru said, eyes narrowing.

"Why are you telling me these things about Rin-san?" Rei blurted suddenly. He wanted to take back the words as quickly as they had left his mouth. Why couldn't he have asked a more pertinent question?

"Because he likes you."

Rei stared at Haru in surprise. Of course Rei knew this, Rin had told him himself, but hearing it from one of Rin's closest friends was surprising. How many of his friends knew?

Rei rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know," he murmured.

"Honestly, I've never seen Rin like this before. He gets kinda dreamy sometimes, but with you, it's like he's a whole different brand of weird."

"That's what I was afraid of," Rei sighed.

It was Haru's turn to look surprised, albeit slightly. "You don't like him? I know Rin's kind of simple, but he usually picks up on emotions like that pretty well," Haru said, "Though I wouldn't blame you if you were turned off by his intensity; you seem like a pretty sensible guy."

Rei waved his hands through the air frantically, almost falling backwards into the water from his squatting position. "No no no, that's not it at all! I... l-like Rin-san as well, but I don't think it's a good idea for us to be together like how he wants us to be together."

"Rin said the same thing," Haru murmured, turning his gaze downwards. "I guess Makoto's advice really spoke to him."

"Advice?" Rei asked. "What advice?"

Haru shrugged easily. "Makoto is kind of a romantic, so he told Rin to go for it anyway, because even though human-merfolk relationships hardly ever work, you wouldn't want to miss the chance, would you?"

Rei was shocked. Haru did have a point, and this Makoto seemed very wise. If Rei remembered correctly, he was Rin's giant orca friend. "Perhaps you're right, Haru. I should give Rin-san a chance; I'll give it some more thought. Thank you."

Haru simply nodded to him and slipped back into the sea while Rei was thinking over Rin's admission of attraction for him.

Rei was attracted to Rin; Rin was attracted to Rei. What else mattered? Aside from Rin being half-shark, but that was a minor detail that could be overlooked if necessary. At least, that's what Rei tried to tell himself.

The shark-half fascinated Rei, but the human-half was the one that always stole his attention. Even now, he found himself thinking of Rin's powerful arms and chest and his dangerous teeth. His bewitching eyes didn't escape Rei's thoughts either. He found himself slipping down a treacherous slope.

Rei knew what he had to do.


	9. Chapter 9

Rin struggled against Haru's iron grip, but he was being pulled toward the shore at an alarming speed. They broke the surface of the water and Rin spat his words at Haru.

"He won't be there, Haru!"

"Yes, he will. Trust me."

Rin glared, his eyes sharp and angry. "Why are you always meddling in my life? Why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend, Rin. Also, I hate hearing you whine."

The anger in Rin's expression fizzled away with an annoyed sigh. Haru was just trying to help him, and sometimes Rin wished he wouldn't. He'd never learn to handle himself if Haru was always jumping to his rescue.

Exactly which one of them was the shark again? He was supposed to be tough, fearless.

"Okay Haru, you win," Rin said, "I'll wait for him here."

"You won't have to wait too long," Haru remarked dryly, pointing toward the shore.

Rin looked back and saw Rei walking down the beach toward the waterline. He set down his bag on the sand, and Rin pushed Haru away from himself. 

"Get outta here, Haru. I can deal with this!"

Haru scoffed, but ultimately dove under the surface and left Rin alone to face Rei.

Rin turned in the water, his eyes settling upon the boy that had him twisted up in knots.

"How lame," Rin muttered to himself, defeatedly swimming toward the shore. His heart skipped a beat when Rei noticed him. Rei managed a nervous wave. When Rin was close enough, Rei was the first one to speak. 

"Sorry for everything, Rin-san. I shouldn't have taken off like that when you confessed to meâ€¦"

Rin quirked his eyebrow. "No, I'm sorry, Rei! Thrusting my feelings on you like that was probably not the smartest move, considering how... different we are."

Rei let his gaze fall to the sand, and his glasses hid the shyest trace of a blush. "Rin-san, I have been thinking..." His eyes swept over Rin's shark tail before resting on his striking red eyes. "These... feelings we have-"

So Rei felt the same as he did.

"probably aren't the best idea. I mean... love in general is such an awkward concept..."

Love. Rin was not in love with Rei.

Rei plopped down onto the sand next to Rin. He sort of curled in on himself, but Rin didn't try to pull him out of it. If it made him feel safe, Rin wouldn't interfere.

"Rei, this is a totally new concept for me too, but sometimes our feelings just don't make sense. Sometimes you just have to go with what feels right. That's something that Makoto told me, so don't mistake those words for mine."

Rei chuckled at that, opening up a bit and angling himself toward Rin. "Is that because you would never say something that made that much sense?"

An incredulous grunt escaped from Rin's throat. "What are you trying to say?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in judgment. 

Covering his mouth to mask his laughter, Rei shrugged. "Nothing."

"Oh, it's not nothing. You think I'm dumb?" Rin's words were scathing, but his smirk held playful flirtation. 

"No, not at all!" Rei tried to backtrack, but upon noticing Rin's smirk, he decided to play along a little longer. "I think you're a complete fool."

"Well, I could say the same about you, Rei," Rin joked, inching closer toward him, predatory in his movements. "You're the weirdest guy I've ever met, and that's including Haru."

Rei leaned away from Rin's advance until his back hit the sand. Rin had trapped him, and his mouth was getting dangerously close to Rei's throat.

"Rin-san..."

"Mmm?" Rin replied half-heartedly, more occupied with nosing at the skin of Rei's throat.

Trembling with excitement, Rei groaned out, "D-Don't you think you're getting a l-little too close?" He rested his hands on Rin's shoulders, still wet from ocean water. "You're getting me all wet."

"That doesn't sound like a problem at all," Rin purred into Rei's neck.

Fuck it. Fuck everything that Rei had ever been told was proper. Just fuck it. He wrapped his arms around Rin's shoulders and pulled him closer, possibly a little too tightly, but neither of them really cared. He felt Rin pull away slightly, but Rei closed his eyes and held him tighter, not wanting to give up their intimacy.

"Rei, look at me."

So Rei did, and the heat from Rin's gaze was scalding. 

"Rin-san, I-"

Rin put his fingers over Rei's mouth, silencing him. "Shh, let's put your mouth to better use." Rin drawled, the vibrations and heat in his voice sending a shiver up Rei's spine. He simply nodded, unable to speak. Rin pulled his hand away and glanced down at Rei's lips, licking his own in hunger. 

Noticing this, Rei wrapped both hands around the back of Rin's neck and slowly - almost nervously - pulled him down into the kiss they had both been waiting for and building up to since they had met.

The sand of the beach seemed to fall away from underneath him, and he felt as though he was floating aimlessly with Rin somewhere out in the vast ocean. Every hair seemed to stand on end and his skin felt tight and prickly everywhere except his lips. Rin's weight pressing him down into the sand was all that he never knew he needed.

Rin nibbled gently on Rei's lips before cautiously sliding his tongue along them, probing for entry as his hands raked through Rei's now-sandy hair. With a gentle tug, Rei gasped, opening his mouth and impulsively spreading his legs. Rin did not shift his tail to be between Rei's legs though. He'd save that adventure for another day. Instead, he licked and kissed and nipped before covering Rei's mouth with his own and sliding his tongue inside, making the boy moan and writhe underneath him. Rin was quite excited by the situation himself, and he felt his body reacting to the simple act of kissing. He had to pull away from Rei before he hurt himself; sand in your cloaca was not pleasant.

God damn. Rei's blushing cheeks and heaving breaths and skewed glasses made him want to dive right back in. His hair was a mess and his clothes were covered with sand.

"Damn it Rei," Rin growled, ducking back down to nibble at the skin of his jaw. "You're so sexy when you're pinned under me and struggling to keep it together."

Rei let out a breathy chuckle. "I want to see you like that too, Rin-san."

Rin smirked in response. "Mmm, I'd like to see you above me. I want to see you everywhere, in every position, with my tongue in your mouth, and maybe some other places too." 

"What about your penis?" Rei asked suddenly, making Rin flush and stutter.

"W-what about it?!"

"Don't you want to see it inside me as well?" Rei said innocently.

This boy would seriously be the death of him.

"W-well, yeah, I guess... eventually."

Rei smiled a sly, devilish little smile. "Good. I'm very interested in studying your mating habits."

Rin couldn't believe the things coming from Rei's mouth. He wondered exactly how much more Rei had to offer in terms of surprises. He briefly considered the ache still evident in his cloaca.

"How would you like to learn a little right now?"

Rei's eyes widened suddenly in surprise, but Rin could also see the excited curiosity contained within. 

"That depends, Rin-san. What exactly are you planning to show me?" Rei wanted to see Rin's cock. He was dying to know what it looked like. He would also not say no if Rin wanted to help alleviate him of the erection he had popped during their kiss.

"I could show you my dick," he replied, "but you're gonna have you help me first..."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "Help you how?" 

Rin rolled onto his side, bearing his under belly to Rei. He quickly pointed to a thin slit just below where his human torso ended. "I'm not hard yet."

"I see, so your penis is stored inside a cloaca of sorts? That's not how traditional sharks work." 

"I'm not a traditional shark." Rin stated dryly.

"Er, you have a point there," Rei said, pushing up his glasses to hide the faint blush still dusting his cheeks. "So what should I do?"

"Here, gimme your hand." Rin held his hand out, and Rei quickly set his own upon Rin's. Rin then guided Rei's hand toward his cloaca, setting his palm over top of the slit. "Just rub your fingers gently around the outside. If you're feeling bold, you can even try sticking a finger or two inside." Rin's voice wavered slightly at the contact.

"O-okay..." Rei said, his fingers dancing circles around the delicate area. He watched the slit closely, his eyes sometimes snapping up to glace at Rin's expression to see if what he was doing was alright. Rin's face was never anything less than pleased.

"You're doing great," Rin breathed, the tip of his cock starting to emerge. Rei's eyes were glued to the slowly growing appendage. He dipped his fingers inside Rin's cloaca to feel it deeper, trying to judge the length. The slit bulged and stretched around Rei's fingers and the shaft as it emerged, and the whole area was coated in a slippery substance. Rei assumed it was some kind of self-lubrication. Rin groaned in pleasure; Rei felt so much better than his own hand.

"God Rei... that's so good..." He waved Rei toward him. "C-come here..."

Without removing his fingers, Rei closed the distance between them and brushed their lips together again. Rin threaded his hand around the back of Rei's neck and held him tightly while Rei continued to work at his slick cock.

Rei could not deny the weirdness of this situation, but the groans coming from Rin were more than enough to keep him from stopping. He closed his eyes and tried to lose himself in the sweet moans filling his ears, and truth be told, it was not hard in the least to simply pleasure Rin without hesitation or doubt. He found his trousers growing unbearably tight with each stroke of his hand.

Was this wrong? For him to be so turned on right now? His strokes faltered as he thought.

Rin pulled back slightly. "W-what's wrong? Why are you stopping?" 

Rei blushed, anxious from being put on the spot. "I-it's just... I, um... It's just... Is this wrong? I mean, a month ago I didn't even know you existed... And now we're doing sexual activities together," he explained, " We're not even the same species, but I'm still so turned on." Rei shook his head in disbelief. "Am I a freak for liking this?"

"We can stop if you want, Rei."

"But that's just it- I don't want to stop, but societal norms and pressures tell me that this is so very, very wrong. What will people think of me?"

Rin could see that Rei was working himself up. "No one has to know. I'm not exactly the kind of person you can introduce your friends to, and I'm not planning on making myself known to the world any time soon." He brushed his hand over Rei's cheek. "I'll never think you're a freak. Well... no more than usual." 

Rei chuckled lightly at that and brought his lips to Rin's once more. "Thank you, Rin," he breathed.

"Hey... you didn't call me 'Rin-san'." Rin remarked. 

"This situation is a little too intimate for me to use '-san' on your name, don't you think?"

"Mmm," Rin agreed, "Let's keep it that way." He pawed at the button on Rei's pants. "What is this? Take it off."

Rei flushed, but obeyed Rin's command. "S-so forceful..." He fumbled with the button briefly before popping it open and easing the zipper down. The bulge in his underwear made itself even more apparent due to the lack of that simple layer of fabric holding it down. The cotton of his briefs strained upwards and Rin stared.

"Why do you hide it?"

"Th-that's just how it is on the surface. People wear clothes. They keep us warm... and protect our bodies from... things. It's similar to how yours stays inside. It sort of keeps it safe."

"Whatever." Rin dipped his fingers under the waistband of Rei's underwear and pulled them down suddenly. 

"Rin!" Rei shrieked, trying to muster a shred of dignity as he lay on the beach with his cock out and a half-shark man poised to jerk him off.

"Just go with it, Rei," Rin said, closing his fingers around Rei and squeezing gently. "I wanna return the favour."

"F-favour?" Rei stuttered, a groan threatening to escape his throat. 

Rin leaned in close - close enough that Rei could feel Rin's breath fanning out over his face. 

"You did this for me before." Rin started to slowly stroke Rei's length. "I want to return the favour."

Rei's strangled groan finally slipped from his throat as Rin pleasured him. The leaned his head back and lost himself in the sensation. It was nothing like he had felt before. Sure, he had masturbated, but having it be someone else's hand felt pretty amazing. The two of them laid on the sand as Rin worked. Rei wanted to kiss him. Wanted him closer - above him and all around him. Rei connected their lips and Rin increased the pace and force of his strokes. Rei couldn't help the little twitches and jerks if his hips; they were seemingly instinctual. Rin bit gently at Rei's bottom lip, ever careful not to break the delicate skin, but forceful enough for Rei to remember that Rin was not human - humans didn't have teeth like this. However, in some sort of macabre masochism, Rei found himself wanting to know what it was like to be bitten by Rin. How sharp were his teeth? How fast could they tear through his flesh?

Spurred by that thought, Rei embarrassingly found himself coming all over his stomach and Rin's hand. His eyes shot open, and he pulled his lips from between Rin's teeth. 

"I-I'm sorry, Rin-san!" he stuttered, his embarassment causing him to slip back into using the honorific. "I... You jus-" 

Rin put a finger over his mouth. "It's fine, Rei, but-" he gestured down to his own length still protruding from his lower belly. "You have to do me too, then I'll really forgive you."

Rei nodded and turned onto his side to face Rin. He took Rin's cock in his hand once more, starting with faster strokes instead of slower ones. Rin seemed close already; Rei assumed he was riled up from their previous activities. Rei moved in to kiss him again, looping his free arm around Rin's neck and pulling their bodies almost flush. He felt Rin's dick against his own, and he probably (definitely) would have came had he not done so already, but it was too soon for him to even get hard again. He focused all his attention on pleasing Rin instead, jerking his hand firmly around him and kissing him deeply. 

Then, Rin was tugging fiercely on his hair and growling, and it was the sexiest, wildest, most animalistic sound that Rei had ever heard. Both their bodies tensed and tightened, but Rei didn't stop stroking Rin through his orgasm, coaxing every drop of come out of him that he could. He felt it splatter next to his own on his stomach. (Later, Rei would be thankful that his shirt had ridden up as much as it had, otherwise he would have been picking dried come off his t-shirt.) Rin was breathing heavily as his grip eased on Rei's hair and his arms sort of went limp, one falling to the sand and the other to rest on Rei's hip. 

"Wow," Rin breathed. "That was great, Rei."

Rei released his grip on Rin's cock, which was swiftly retreating back into his body. 

"I quite enjoyed it as well, Rin." He wiped his hand through the come on his stomach. "But I want to get this off me."

Rin chuckled, "Completely understandable." He backed away and allowed Rei to scoot toward the edge of the water to wash as much of it away as he could. Rei decided he would definitely take a shower when he got home. 

When Rei turned back toward Rin, he found that he was being affectionately watched. 

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Nothing." Rin said, a smirk painted across his cheek.


End file.
